Fantastic pictures, enchanting snowman characters, and fluid rhymes will be a draw for winter-loving readers, many of whom...
What does a snowman do when he’s challenged to a fight? His young human friend finds out when everyone in the forest gathers to see the epic duel in the latest in Lapid and Pasek’s Snowman Paul series (Snowman Paul at the Concert Hall, 2016, etc.).
Snowman Paul’s young friend Dan worries when he sees his mischievous human friend, Bill, who looks to be up to no good. Bill has befriended Snowman Nick, a behemoth of a snowman with blocky features and a fighter’s exterior. Bill issues the challenge: Nick wants to fight Paul in a snowman duel! What is the twig-haired Paul to do against the pebble-toothed, wicked-looking Nick? Dan is worried, but Paul has no concerns as he smilingly offers a copy of “Rules for Duels in Snowman Land” to Nick and Bill. Bill points out what looks like a wrestling ring on a hill, and they pledge to meet at midnight. All the snowmen and animals and children (including a diverse group of kids who travel via pirate ship) make their ways to the ring, “For Snowman Duels are quite rare.” When Dan arrives ringside, he sees Bill prepared for battle in a helmet and armor with a big stick. But where is Paul? Sleeping! Paul’s still untroubled, climbing into the ring without armor or weapons. Like young readers, who might be nervous by this point, Dan can’t watch. But when he opens his eyes, it’s over, and Paul is the victor. It turns out that Snowman Duels are just glorified staring contests and that Paul and Nick are good friends. In her eye-catching illustrations, Pasek uses contrasting color to great effect, accenting her cartoonlike characters with bright yellows and oranges against a blue winter background. The anticlimactic ending may be a relief for young readers concerned about what would happen to poor Paul, but stouter-hearted readers may be disappointed that there wasn’t any risk to begin with; Paul let Dan worry the whole story for naught.
Fantastic pictures, enchanting snowman characters, and fluid rhymes will be a draw for winter-loving readers, many of whom will wish they had their own snowman friends to duel with.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-949091-13-7
Page Count: 50
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
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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