A colorful celebration of creativity and Deafness.
Philomena creates a superhero and goes on a fabulous adventure in her own imagination.
As the story begins, Philomena is exploring a jungle when her father interrupts to insist that she clean up her living-room blanket fort and wear her hearing aids. Her hearing aids are annoying and loud, and she would much rather sign than listen and speak. Philomena, who has light skin and straight black hair, wants to live and play in her own way—not the way others think she should. She doesn’t want to read about a sad deaf woman; she wants to create an awesome superhero! In her room, she imagines a cast of colorful heroes, monsters, and robots to entertain her. The human characters are racially diverse—though one unfortunately plays into Asian stereotypes—and some use wheelchairs. As Philomena daydreams, Sanfelippo’s vibrant illustrations grow to fill the page and bring readers into Philomena’s world. The actual plot is thin, but the lively text and illustrations usher readers from one page to the next. It is a delight to see Philomena unapologetically reject hearing aids and speech and take joy in signing. Pottle shows readers the rich inner life of a Deaf child and directly counters the tragic narrative of deafness while telling a fun story that any young reader could enjoy. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 20.1% of actual size.)
A colorful celebration of creativity and Deafness. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4788-6812-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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