Glowing and overflowing with the legacy of the author who inspired it.
A charming tale in tribute to the life and imagination of storytelling powerhouse Toni Morrison.
Small-Girl Toni is certain that stories—her stories—can change the world. Many adults in her predominantly Black community disagree, but Small-Girl Toni does what real-life Morrison will become known for when faced with doubt from critics—she tells stories anyway. Like stories about treasure in her town to draw her siblings into a hunt. The foursome pick blackberries as they search for doubloons in lonely Ms. Solomon’s backyard; they offer to walk Widow Sersee’s dogs in the hope the canines will sniff out long-buried gold; they peer enthusiastically through the candy shop window at golden treats, only to be rebuffed by the white store owner. All the while Small-Girl Toni spins her tales, and as the siblings arrive home glumly with no treasure, she helps them see the gold they found along the way—“It’s all in how you tell the story.” Bold softness is as much a signature for Figueroa’s illustrations as it is for Morrison herself. Bright, rich spreads celebrate the deep roots of Toni’s small town and the exuberant heights of her story landscapes. Readers will return again and again to search the pages—younger ones to find the different examples of gold and older ones to find Anatol’s creative nods to Morrison’s writings, referenced in the appended biographical note.
Glowing and overflowing with the legacy of the author who inspired it. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780593404867
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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