Fans of Wick’s and Jean Marzollo’s I Spy series will be thrilled with a new challenge while newcomers will become immediate devotees with this dozen of picture puzzles to search and solve. With Wick’s usual frenzied color-photo montages, each spread has rhyming clues to locate a variety of game objects. The caption of each puzzle indicates the theme, such as “String Game,” “Card Tricks,” “Domino Effect,” and “Magic Mirror.” An author’s note explains that he has combined classic search-and-find puzzles with other familiar types of puzzles. Some are mazes, some are matching games, some are spot-the-difference games, and some are simple cryptic games with a few optical ones for good measure. The cover even contains a rebus for the title. There’s a plastic-jointed, Weeble People-type figure that appears like Waldo in each peripatetic scene. So sharpen your visual acuity and be prepared to be absorbed and engrossed in this amazing entertainment that will keep espyers returning again and again. (Picture book. All ages)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-16391-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2002
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Those who think they've seen everything in the ubiquitous color concept-book genre haven't seen Cabrera's debut, an irresistible take on the subject. An orange-and-black kitten takes children on a trip through his world and invites them to discover his favorite color. In a series of involving spreads, the kitten explores the world and introduces both concepts and colors. Each time the kitten asks if a particular color is it, viewers are treated to a boldly gestural, accomplished oil painting in green, pink, black (``the night when bats swoop and soar''), red, yellow, purple (``the yarn I tangle in my claws''), brown, blue, white (``the clouds floating in the sky''), or orange. ``Is it orange? Yes! . . . the color of my mother.'' The art is childlike and comforting, with broad, visible strokes of the brush. Impish and informational. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8037-2090-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997
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