Entrancing and complex.
A grieving young boy goes on an impossible adventure and returns, healed.
Nayeri’s text is minimal, even cryptic: just about 50 words, spooled out over the page turns in brief, elliptical spurts—and then reversed, conveying an entirely different meaning. Little listeners are unlikely to notice the clever construction initially, so beguiled will they be by Rockefeller’s lush, jewel-toned images. They set the scene first in a cozy, medieval-esque cottage beset by grief: A weeping child huddles next to a sorrowful bearded adult; above them hangs a painting of the child as a happy toddler cuddled between the bearded adult, now smiling, and a beaming woman. All are tan-skinned. The text reads, “She was gone.” In extremis, the child flees to the forest and pulls a sword from the ground. From there the adventure emulates a video game’s many levels, including an encounter with fearsome spiders, an underground ride in a rickety cart, a plunge into a sea serpent’s lair, and more. At the end of his quest—the middle of the book—there’s an ethereal woman, an agonized question, and the sublimely reassuring answer. The boy’s journey home traverses the same territory, but with smiling confidence. The illustrations are so filled with detail that they demand repeat visits, which will prompt little ones and their grown-ups to explore both text and subtext further.
Entrancing and complex. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780063277168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A must-own adaptation chock-full of such stuff as kids’ dreams are—and will be—made on.
Mirth, magic, and mischief abound in this picture-book retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
Ariel, the beloved sprite whose conjurings precipitate the eponymous tempest, gets top billing in this adaptation and recounts the narrative in the first person. Through Ariel’s eyes, readers are introduced to the powerful Prospero, his lovely daughter, Miranda, and the shipwrecked nobles who are brought to the island to right an ancient wrong. Ellinas’ picture book largely divests the tale of its colonialist underpinnings and breathes three-dimensional complexity into the major and minor characters. Caliban, for instance, is monstrous due to his callous treatment of Ariel rather than because he is racially coded as savage. Another delightful change is the depiction of Miranda, who emerges as an athletic, spirited, and beautiful nature-child whose charms are understandably irresistible to Prince Ferdinand. The text is perfectly matched by Ray’s jaw-droppingly beautiful illustrations, which will enchant readers from the front cover to the final curtain. The greens of the waters and the blues of the island’s night sky are so lush and inviting that readers will wish they could enter the book. Peppered throughout the story are italicized fragments of Shakespeare’s dialogue, giving both young and older readers something to enjoy. Large, granite-colored Caliban is plainly nonhuman; the human characters present white; Ariel is a translucent, paper white.
A must-own adaptation chock-full of such stuff as kids’ dreams are—and will be—made on. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1144-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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