An amusing story of imagination crashing with reality, balanced well with skillful illustrations.
In Hoff’s illustrated children’s book, a young boy sets out to prove that he is, in fact, a pirate.
One morning, a boy named Stephen stands up on his kitchen chair and announces his new occupation. In response, his sister, Alicia, notes, “I don’t think pirates stand of kitchen chairs.” “They do when they’re not at sea,” counters Stephen. This isn’t the first time that Stephen has decided to have a new job; it’s revealed that, on previous occasions, he’d said that he was an astronaut and a professional heel-toe polka dancer. But unlike those unsuccessful attempts at being something other than a young boy standing at his kitchen table, he’s truly dedicated to being a pirate this time—and he leaves his home to prove it. Almost immediately, he runs into an elderly bakery owner who claims to have once been a pirate inspector for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To prove his worth, Stephen agrees to undertake a series of tests which don’t seem particularly piratelike, such as pulling weeds and sweeping away cobwebs, all while passing by other kids who aren’t pirates but seem to be having a lot more fun than he is. Throughout Hoff’s book, there’s a pleasing mix of rhyme, dialogue, and a few full-page illustrations that keep the story bouncing along and make it well-suited for a read-aloud. Stephen is a believable and relatable character, and his changing emotions during his journey are sharply captured by Froese’s somewhat-minimalistic full-color cartoon illustrations. The bakery owner’s escalation of alleged pirate tests will amuse young readers, and her expressions of faux-surprise are well-rendered. Both Stephen and the bakery owner are portrayed with pale skin; other children have a range of skin tones.
An amusing story of imagination crashing with reality, balanced well with skillful illustrations.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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