MIKA THE BEAR IS AFRAID OF THE DARK

Name: MIKA THE BEAR IS AFRAID OF THE DARK
Author: Yann Walcker
ISBN: 978-2-7338-4325-3

by Yann Walcker ; illustrated by Nicolas Duffaut translated by Lipsie Languages & Traduction-IN ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016

The long polar night will never be the same.

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Mika is a young white polar bear whose imagination works double-time—particularly at bedtime.

His cousin, Vanilla (a surprising name for a black bear), comes to visit just before the longest night of the year and tries to help him work through his fears. With a trusty “torch” (a flashlight—clearly the translator was influenced by British idiom), Vanilla helps him see that the Giant Snow Monster with the gun is only a snowman with a plain old broom, and the dark shadows are not hunters with weapons but penguins with ice-fishing equipment. Two “huge snakes” (apparently this Arctic has snakes as well as penguins) turn out to be skis. A “dragon” becomes a friendly sled dog, and a spider turns out to be a black umbrella. Mika even begins to take charge when Vanilla seems to be frightened of two heads on a wall. The white bear confidently tells his cousin: “Don’t tell me you’re scared of a mirror!” Translated from the French, this is a story meant to help children work through their fears. It doesn’t quite make enough sense. Although readers are shown the objects that Mika fears, they never see the mirror that so throws Vanilla. But the bold pictures and the retro colors are fun. And just what is that red alien stuffed toy with one cyclopean eye that Mika drags everywhere?

The long polar night will never be the same. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-2-7338-4325-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Auzou Publishing

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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BENJAMIN IS AN UNUSUAL DUCKLING
by Yann Walcker ; illustrated by Julie Mercier ; translated by Julia Taylor

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WHERE IS FLUFFY?
by Yann Walcker ; adapted by Leslie Bullion ; illustrated by Jannie Ho

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WHOSE STORY IS THIS, ANYWAY?

by Mike Flaherty ; illustrated by Oriol Vidal ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2016

It seems like the question isn’t “whose story is it?” at book’s end, but what other stories might have arisen through these...

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A metafictive text introduces a bevy of exciting characters.

The title page indicates the tension between the competing narratives suggested by the book’s title since it includes four scratched-out, but legible, titles above the main one. The book proper begins with a declaration from a brown-haired, white child that the story is great “Because it’s all about me.” As pages turn, however, Salty Pete the pirate, a dinosaur, an extraterrestrial named Yurxl, and Sir Knightly astride a horse all enter the story and jockey for position in asserting their own stories. The child who began the story is not amused! Increasingly crowded images introduce Vikings, robots, and zombies to the story. (All the human characters are white.) Ultimately, there’s room for all when the text resolves with the statement that this is a story about when the child “met a bunch of crazy new friends,” but it’s hard not to feel as though both Flaherty and the narrator are caving in under the pressure. Cartoon-style digital art matches the rising excitement of the text as the pages progress and then depicts the final, calm scene in silhouette. This is a well-worn conceit in contemporary picture books, and it delivers an anticlimactic conclusion after so much buildup.

It seems like the question isn’t “whose story is it?” at book’s end, but what other stories might have arisen through these characters? (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: May 3, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4549-1608-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sterling

Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION

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WHERE'S THE PARTY?

From the Georgie and Friends series

by Ruth Chan ; illustrated by Ruth Chan ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2016

Not likely to be much of a surprise even for diapered cake eaters, but this uncomplicated, feel-good debut is definitely a...

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Georgie the cat is eager to throw a party—but none of his friends can come! Bummer.

Georgie, a true party animal, wakes up with “the best of best ideas” and rushes out to buy a cake and make the rounds of his friends to deliver invitations. But…floppy-eared Feta the dog (“his go-to party pal”) is too busy making pickles, Lester the rat is in the middle of untangling a string of lights, shy Ferdinand the mole feels like staying in his storm drain, and all of Georgie’s other animal friends present similarly weak excuses. In simply drawn cartoon illustrations, Chan tracks her increasingly discouraged kitty through a long day that dims into night. By the time the streetlights come on he is out of friends (and, being a nibbler, also out of cake) and so wanders wearily home—to a big, bright, joyous “SURPRISE!” that his friends had been preparing all along. The story is slight, repetitious, and predictable, but Georgie is pretty doggone adorable, and Chan makes up for its narrative simplicity with plenty to look at, playing with perspective and lighting to emphasize Georgie’s increasing dejection.

Not likely to be much of a surprise even for diapered cake eaters, but this uncomplicated, feel-good debut is definitely a charmer. (Picture book. 4-6)