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INKY'S GREAT ESCAPE

Name: INKY'S GREAT ESCAPE
Author: Casey Lyall
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2635-1

THE INCREDIBLE (AND MOSTLY TRUE) STORY OF AN OCTOPUS ESCAPE

by Casey Lyall ; illustrated by Sebastià Serra ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2017

For reading aloud or reading alone, a joyful but misleading re-creation of a fabulous feat.

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A daring cephalopod makes history.

Famed for his many escapes, an octopus named Inky, “retired to the local aquarium,” performs one more to impress his friends. Slithering from his tank and past the other aquarium exhibits, he heads down a drain to the ocean. This fanciful story is based on a true octopus escape from a facility in New Zealand in 2016. Lyall anthropomorphizes her animals, giving her protagonist a propensity for storytelling and motivation for his great escape: a bet from his tank mate, Blotchy. Also, satisfyingly, though not accurately, she suggests that the escape artist occasionally returns to play cards and continue to regale his tank mate with his exploits. The text is set on digitally colored pencil-and-ink drawings, busy spreads showing a range of aquarium wildlife, depicted with large eyes and surprised expressions. There are also visitors and even a keeper, so distracted by the sound from his headphones he doesn’t see the fleeing fugitive. Sadly, the illustrator has perpetuated the cartoon misconception that an octopus has eyes on the top of the sac that is its body, rather than on the head that is the center of a cephalopod. Divya Srinivasan gets it right in a similarly anthropomorphic Octopus Alone (2013).

For reading aloud or reading alone, a joyful but misleading re-creation of a fabulous feat. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4549-2635-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sterling

Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WAKING THE DEAD AND OTHER FUN ACTIVITIES
by Casey Lyall

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GNOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS
by Casey Lyall

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A SPOONFUL OF FROGS
by Casey Lyall ; illustrated by Vera Brosgol

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)