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FINS, FLUFF AND OTHER STUFF

Name: FINS, FLUFF AND OTHER STUFF
Author: Bruno Merz
ISBN: 978-1-78493-042-4

From the Storytime series

by Bruno Merz ; illustrated by Dreda Blow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 2015

Lively, entertaining, and educational to boot.

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A little boy imagines all the different things he might be...and do.

Each stanza of Merz and Blow's rhyming text begins with "If I were made of..." and amusingly shows, as well as tells, a variety of possibilities, all the more appealing for their unexpectedness. As "scales and fins," he's green with webbed hands and feet and mossy hair, swimming near a friendly crab and a sunken ship. As "water," he's an amorphous blue blob with a face, filling a tub in which a little girl floats a rubber duck. As "needles," he's a cactus who just happens to be the best soccer goalie ever. As "twigs and leaves," he's a heavily populated tree, with an owl family, a turkey, all manner of singing birds, and others nesting in him. As "feathers," he can run and jump but, wingless, not quite manage to fly. Other flights of imagination find the boy made of fluffy stuff, soapy suds, candy, cobwebs, flowers, and metal. Best of all, when he imagines himself as himself (that is, made of "skin and bones"), the amount of amazing things he can do makes him feel “quite content and lucky to be ME!” A helpful addendum called "Next Steps" offers teachers a handful of follow-up activities. The crisp, apt verse leaves ample room for Merz's rib-tickling cartoonlike illustrations, done in bright colors. While the narrator is Caucasian, other humans depicted demonstrate a nice variety of diversity.

Lively, entertaining, and educational to boot. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-78493-042-4

Page Count: 24

Publisher: QEB Publishing

Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
BLOW YOUR NOSE, BIG BAD WOLF!
by Steve Smallman ; illustrated by Bruno Merz

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CINDERELLA

From the Once Upon a World series

by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Sandra Equihua ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016

A nice but not requisite purchase.

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A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.

Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.

A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LITTLE MERMAID
adapted by Hannah Eliot ; illustrated by Nivea Ortiz

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA
by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova

- BOOK REVIEW
RAPUNZEL
by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA
by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova

- BOOK REVIEW
RAPUNZEL
by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan

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THE GRUFFALO

by Julia Donaldson illustrated by Axel Scheffler ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1999

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The action of this rhymed and humorous tale centers upon a mouse who "took a stroll/through the deep dark wood./A fox saw the mouse/and the mouse looked good." The mouse escapes being eaten by telling the fox that he is on his way to meet his friend the gruffalo (a monster of his imagination), whose favorite food is roasted fox. The fox beats a hasty retreat. Similar escapes are in store for an owl and a snake; both hightail it when they learn the particulars: tusks, claws, terrible jaws, eyes orange, tongue black, purple prickles on its back. When the gruffalo suddenly materializes out of the mouse's head and into the forest, the mouse has to think quick, declaring himself inedible as the "scariest creature in the deep dark wood," and inviting the gruffalo to follow him to witness the effect he has on the other creatures. When the gruffalo hears that the mouse's favorite food is gruffalo crumble, he runs away. It's a fairly innocuous tale, with twists that aren't sharp enough and treachery that has no punch. Scheffler's funny scenes prevent the suspense from culminating; all his creatures, predator and prey, are downright lovable. (Picture book. 3-6)