Beginning chapter-book readers will look for the friends’ next adventure and head to the library whenever their own skills...
It’s tough to relax and enjoy a camping trip when there’s a friend along whose sense of humor is hurtful.
Allenby’s five woodland characters are full of personality. Timo, a rabbit, is the nervous one. When Suki, a squirrel, suggests a camping trip, Timo’s dubious expression speaks volumes. But Suki knows how to get the gang onboard, assigning each a job title that fits their strengths; Bogs is dubbed the “Toad of Tunes,” for example. As the trip unfolds, the group’s inexperience causes mishaps, which become fodder for Suki’s teasing. Timo is uncomfortable, but everyone else is laughing, though Suki’s target’s body language is clear. All Timo hopes is that he doesn’t do something foolish, too. But it’s inevitable, and when Suki opens her mouth to speak, Timo yells, “Stop!” “Suddenly all the words he had been holding in burst out like water from a dam.” This allows the group to have a conversation about their feelings, and Suki is plainly remorseful. That night the five share a wonderful evening practicing the camping skills Timo learned at the library. And Suki shares her idea for their next adventure….Griffiths’ digital illustrations depict the animals realistically but also anthropomorphize them with clothing; they walk on two legs. Vignette, single-page, and double-page artwork serves to show the friends’ emotions and illustrate the text.
Beginning chapter-book readers will look for the friends’ next adventure and head to the library whenever their own skills are lacking. (Animal fantasy. 6-9)<Pub Date: March 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77278-040-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Make space for this clever blend of science and self-realization.
If Pluto can’t be a planet—then what is he?
Having been a regular planet for “the better part of forever,” Pluto is understandably knocked out of orbit by his sudden exclusion. With Charon and his four other moons in tow he sets off in search of a new identity. Unfortunately, that only spins him into further gloom, as he doesn’t have a tail like his friend Halley’s comet, is too big to join Ida and the other asteroids, and feels disinclined to try to crash into Earth like meteoroids Gem and Persi. Then, just as he’s about to plunge into a black hole of despair, an encounter with a whole quartet of kindred spheroids led by Eris rocks his world…and a follow-up surprise party thrown by an apologetic Saturn (“Dwarf planet has a nice RING to it”) and the other seven former colleagues literally puts him “over the moon.” Demmer gives all the heavenly bodies big eyes (some, including the feminine Saturn, with long lashes) and, on occasion, short arms along with distinctive identifying colors or markings. Dressing the troublemaking meteoroids in do-rags and sunglasses sounds an off note. Without mentioning that the reclassification is still controversial, Wade closes with a (somewhat) straighter account of Pluto’s current official status and the reasons for it.
Make space for this clever blend of science and self-realization. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68446-004-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent.
Wouldn’t the same housecat look very different to a dog and a mouse, a bee and a flea, a fox, a goldfish, or a skunk?
The differences are certainly vast in Wenzel’s often melodramatic scenes. Benign and strokable beneath the hand of a light-skinned child (visible only from the waist down), the brindled cat is transformed to an ugly, skinny slinker in a suspicious dog’s view. In a fox’s eyes it looks like delectably chubby prey but looms, a terrifying monster, over a cowering mouse. It seems a field of colored dots to a bee; jagged vibrations to an earthworm; a hairy thicket to a flea. “Yes,” runs the terse commentary’s refrain, “they all saw the cat.” Words in italics and in capital letters in nearly every line give said commentary a deliberate cadence and pacing: “The cat walked through the world, / with its whiskers, ears, and paws… // and the fish saw A CAT.” Along with inviting more reflective viewers to ruminate about perception and subjectivity, the cat’s perambulations offer elemental visual delights in the art’s extreme and sudden shifts in color, texture, and mood from one page or page turn to the next.
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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