A playfully sweet and amusing collection that’s an excellent choice for reading aloud.
This illustrated children’s book includes fables, fairy tales, and other short stories.
In the 22 stories collected here, characters can be young or older, and the plots can be fairly realistic or fanciful. The volume features both animal and human characters in a variety of settings: a garden, under the sea, the present day, and a fairy-tale past. While most are original, some employ familiar elements from children’s literature or fables, such as a naughty, carrot-stealing rabbit or, in “The goat who didn’t have any milk to feed her kid,” a narrative reminiscent of “The Little Red Hen.” In these cases, though, the tales provide fresh takes, as in “The true story of the ant and the cicada.” A lazy insect idles the summer away, but instead of leaving him to starve, the ant king invites him to exchange shelter for entertainment. Several tales feature the classic motif of being rewarded for kindness to animals, as in “Once upon a time, a bear went to the circus,” in which a little girl frees a captive circus bear who later gives salmon to her picnicking family. Kalyvas, writing his second children’s book, has a good ear for dialogue and appealing repetition, even supplying read-aloud suggestions for one story: “Tickle-tickle-tickle, he tickled its nose with her whiskers (author’s note to parents: tickle your child’s nose at the same time).” The tales emphasize altruism, compassion, and a spirit of fun, always concluding: “And they lived happily ever after!” Illustrating her second children’s book, Gottardo supplies digital pictures that capture the tales’ humor. Apart from a Bedouin family, all the human characters appear to be White.
A playfully sweet and amusing collection that’s an excellent choice for reading aloud.Pub Date: June 11, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 117
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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