An airy idyll.
Clouds in the sky work to make weather through shade, rain, and snow, but one special cloud named Lola turns herself into incredible, creative, artful figures.
Thor, a large, godlike, domineering male cloud, chastises Lola for her playfulness, telling her “Clouds make weather, not shapes,” and howling “You’re the worst cloud ever!” Lola refuses to be intimidated or dissuaded by the overbearing voice of Thor and continues to display her personality through her fabulous shapes. “I may not be a weather-maker!” she declares, “but I can be ferocious…humorous…gorgeous.” For people on the ground Lola’s creations are remarkably lifelike, resembling in turn a roaring lion, a juggling penguin, and a beautiful girl. Despite Thor’s disapproval, the other clouds are inspired and learn to fluff and puff themselves into shapes with Lola, while Thor eventually relents: “Bravo, Lola!…You are one of a kind.” Lush digital illustrations place pastoral scenes in the foreground with (mostly) sky-blue hues in the background, accentuated by the downy, frothy whites of the various cloud characters. Lola’s attitude inspires confidence in one’s imaginative abilities to pursue life’s aspirations. Though not a new idea, this rendition is lovely and will couple well with Charles Shaw’s classic, It Looked Like Spilt Milk (1947). A brief addendum on the different types of clouds and their significance is included.
An airy idyll. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-56846-319-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd.
This British import is an imaginatively constructed sequence of images that show a white boy examining a city pavement, clearly in London, and the sights he would see if he were able to travel down to the Earth’s core and then back again to the surface.
The geologic layers are depicted in 10 vertical spreads that require a 90-degree turn to be read and include endpapers, which open out, concertina fashion, to show the interior of the Earth to its core. Beneath the urban setting are drains, pipes, and artifacts of urban infrastructure. Below that, archaeological relics are revealed. An Underground train speeds by, and below it, a stalactite-encrusted cave yawns. Deep below the Earth’s crust, magma, the Earth’s mantle, and the inner core are shown. Turn the page to start going up again, back through the mantle to the crust, where precious minerals are revealed, then fossils, tree roots, and animal burrows, ending with the same boy in the English countryside. The painted, stenciled, and collaged illustrations are full-bleed, and the tones graduate pleasantly from light colors at the surface of the Earth to rich pinks, yellows, and oranges as readers near the Earth’s core. The text is informative, if lacking in poetry, including such nuggets as “earthworms are expert recyclers, eating dead plants in the soil.”
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-136-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Words & Pictures
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way.
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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