Readers will “bee” delighted by this earnest and endearing tale.
A green pea, a bumblebee, and a bluejay become fast friends in this charming early graphic novel.
Pea lives in a pod with his mother and grandfather. Feeling stifled by his family, Pea is excited to go rolling with his other round-ish farm friends (a blueberry, strawberry, cherry, and other peas). Soon their fun escalates into a dare to roll off the farm and procure a red leaf from a far-off oak tree, and Pea is eager to meet the challenge. But as soon as he starts his journey, Pea is caught in a rainstorm that washes him away, leaving him lost and stranded off the farm! There he meets Bee, a solitary bespectacled bumblebee, and soon the duo stumble upon Jay, an unassuming orphaned bluejay who never learned how to fly. The trio decide to team up, combining their unique skills and personalities to outwit an army of bumblebee guards, bush full of raspberry-blowing raspberries, and a predatory fox to return Pea to his home. In a satisfying conclusion, all three discover that family and community weren’t far beyond their reach after all. Simple, expressive full-color illustrations are friendly and easy to parse. Combining these visual elements with a sweet, straightforward plot makes this a perfect graphic novel for newly independent readers; that it kicks off a series makes it all the sweeter. Volume 2, Wannabees, publishes simultaneously.
Readers will “bee” delighted by this earnest and endearing tale. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-298117-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit.
Eleven-year-old Maria Russo helps her charlatan mother hoodwink customers, but Maria has a spirited secret.
Maria’s mother, the psychic Madame Destine, cons widows out of their valuables with the assistance of their apartment building’s super, Mr. Fox. Madame Destine home-schools Maria, and because Destine is afraid of unwanted attention, she forbids Maria from talking to others. Maria is allowed to go to the library, where new librarian Ms. Madigan takes an interest in Maria that may cause her trouble. Meanwhile, Sebastian, Maria’s new upstairs neighbor, would like to be friends. All this interaction makes it hard for Maria to keep her secret: that she is visited by Edward, a spirit who tells her the actual secrets of Madame Destine’s clients via spirit writing. When Edward urges Maria to help Mrs. Fisher, Madame Destine’s most recent mark, Maria must overcome her shyness and her fear of her mother—helping Mrs. Fisher may be the key to the mysterious past Maria uncovers and a brighter future. Alas, picture-book–creator Ford’s middle-grade debut is a muddled, melodramatic mystery with something of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel: In addition to the premise, there’s a tragically dead father, a mysterious family tree, and the Beat poets. Sluggish pacing; stilted, unrealistic dialogue; cartoonishly stock characters; and unattractive, flat illustrations make this one to miss. Maria and Sebastian are both depicted with brown skin, hers lighter than his; the other principals appear to be white.
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit. (author’s note) (Paranormal mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20567-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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