A charming picture book, full of visual appeal, which may become a family favorite.
Lively, colorful illustrations enhance this family bedtime story about bicycles and magic.
What kid doesn’t want a shiny new bike? Siblings Timka and Dasha are lucky enough to be able to grow one in their backyard with the help of some magic seeds. It works great at first, but then the bicycle continues to grow until it reaches the sky. The brother and sister, distraught that the bike has become unusable, plant more seeds and grow more bikes, all of which grow and grow until the backyard is a jungle of gigantic tires and metal. The author’s colored-pencil illustrations are the book’s standout feature, with vibrant primary hues and simplified, exuberant figures that seem influenced by Henri Matisse’s work. Each illustration clearly supports its corresponding page of text—no more than one sentence per page—and takes liberties with space, perspective and form in a way that children may find delightfully silly and adults, appealingly modernist. As such, they recall the work of author/illustrators such as Patrick McDonnell and Dahlov Ipcar. One page, in which the children go riding through a jumbled, joyful city, is particularly well-done, as are illustrations that show their tiny house, seen through vast frameworks of brightly colored metal. Bicycles and gardens are almost universal objects of fascination for young children, who will likely see themselves in the inventively named young protagonists. Parents may be tempted to read a larger message into the story—is it a cautionary tale about economic growth and development?—but younger readers will simply enjoy its fantastical theme and its happy, satisfying ending.
A charming picture book, full of visual appeal, which may become a family favorite.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989069809
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Fernwood & Hedges Books
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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