Alone at dusk, a girl wordlessly tackles a demon. On the title page, she stands outdoors; observant readers will notice (though the girl doesn’t) that even in sunlight, her shadow has glowing eyes, shaped menacingly. As the sky purples, the girl heads indoors and up a misshapen staircase to her bedroom. The shadow’s silhouette roughly mimics the girl’s body angle and shape, its eyes always frighteningly sinister. Suddenly she sees it. After a few terrified postures, she folds her arms and faces it down. For the first time, its eyes show subdued repentance or fear. The girl turns on a bright bulb, ostensibly banishing shadows and gloom, but even then, a distorted bookcase and oddly mobile drapes maintain the eerie atmosphere. She falls asleep feeling safe, bed flooded in moonlight. On the final page, though, demonic eyes glow underneath the bed. Diamond’s photorealistic acrylic paintings are haunting and may haunt—furniture and walls curve and buckle, light sources behave surreally and the lack of text evokes silent nightmares. Powerful, but select audience carefully. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4878-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
