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THE LITTLE COCONUT

Name: THE LITTLE COCONUT
Author: Alicia L. Anderson
ISBN: 978-0990358510

by Alicia L. Anderson illustrated by Sonny Heston ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2014

Some atmospheric drama but otherwise an unengaging story.

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A little coconut falls from a tree and an island dweller picks it up in this illustrated children’s book with religious themes.

During a rainstorm on a tropical island, a ray of sunlight touches a palm tree. A little coconut falls, landing in the water below. Helpful animals protect the coconut until Christian, who plays a drum and has a mane of wild blond hair, can discover it. Christian brings the coconut home to be part of his family, naming it Mateo, meaning “Gift of God.” Heston’s colorful illustrations do much to help tell the story; they’re particularly effective in showing the storm’s power. In her debut children’s book, Anderson captures a sense of drama: the gathering storm, the radiant light, the island’s animals joining in the joy of Christian’s drumming, the coconut’s relief on being taken home. However, the writing is clumsy and the setup, puzzling. This is a tropical island, and Christian’s drum has a “tribal” sound, yet with his “golden” hair (clearly represented in the illustrations) and “swim trunks,” he’s as Caucasian as can be. This whiff of cultural appropriation may not be appreciated by all parents. As hard as Anderson tries to pull the heartstrings—“The little coconut tenderly started to cry tears of joy. Making the tiniest little whimpering sounds that echoed from within its shell”—a coconut just doesn’t garner much sympathy. Christian’s drum is made from a large coconut, so it’s not as if he has some blanket coconut-protection policy. The story is thin, partly because Anderson continually asserts specialness but doesn’t show how, for example, the coconut is “ ‘Magical’ and ‘Beautiful’ ” or why Christian’s drum is “very unique.” The book is also distractingly full of errors: comma splices, sentence fragments, solecisms, incorrect punctuation, random capitalization, incorrect possessives—not a great example for young readers. An excerpt, sans illustrations, from the next book in the series is appended.

Some atmospheric drama but otherwise an unengaging story.

Pub Date: July 23, 2014

ISBN: 978-0990358510

Page Count: 48

Publisher: UpWORDBound

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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ULTRABOT'S FIRST PLAYDATE
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

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KID AMAZING VS. THE BLOB
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

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EVERYBODY SLEEPS (BUT NOT FRED)
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

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ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)