A gentle plug for the MoMA, this exquisitely designed book would be an enticing prelude to a visit with a young child as...
A visit to a museum proves to be transformational for a cross-generational pair of architects.
Young Frank is a very young architect who lives with his grandfather, also an architect and also named Frank, in a stylish high-rise apartment in New York. Young Frank loves to make things with household objects: a chair out of toilet-paper rolls, a curvy skyscraper out of a stack of books. Old Frank is skeptical that real architects do this kind of thing. A visit to the Museum of Modern Art with his precocious grandson shows Old Frank that architects do in fact make all kinds of things. The Franks peruse exhibits by two famous architects also named Frank: Gehry and Lloyd Wright. Inspired by the visit, they spend the evening back at the apartment designing a whole city full of imaginative creations from found objects, including a building made entirely from chocolate-chip cookies. Young Frank feels a little older, more “like a REAL architect,” and Old Frank feels “younger—and a little wiser.” The whimsical, cartoonlike illustrations recall Viva’s New Yorker covers, and the pages are furnished in a designer palette of grays, olives and ochres.
A gentle plug for the MoMA, this exquisitely designed book would be an enticing prelude to a visit with a young child as well as an invitation to all readers to let their imaginations run wild. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-87070-893-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
This humorous, lively dog’s-eye view provides gentle instruction for interacting with pets.
In Weaver’s charming picture book, a dog reassesses his not-so-glowing review of little kids.
“Families are OVERRATED!” as far as the bluish-gray hound named Dog is concerned. While he approves of the adults in the household, the four small children are for the birds. In an attempt to resolve his conflicted feelings, Dog pours his heart out to a therapist scribbling on a notepad. Dog lists his grievances via couplet rhymes: “And many times I’ve found their dirty toys INSIDE MY BOWL! / It’s obvious these little humans have no SELF-CONTROL!” With key words highlighted in colorful and bolded fonts for more emphasis, his voice now has added urgency. Soylu’s lively drawings in muted tones are wondrously effective in animating Dog; his hanging jowls, big eyes, and floppy ears all convey believably beleaguered expressions. Lifelike details enhance the dramatic effect of the children’s boisterous antics. At the end, Weaver provides a list of do’s and don’ts for interacting with pets. Dog lovers can identify the dog breed silhouettes on the endpapers. Kids will get a kick out of Dog’s opinion of humans and perhaps recognize some behaviors to reconsider.
This humorous, lively dog’s-eye view provides gentle instruction for interacting with pets.Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781736267370
Page Count: 40
Publisher: A Little Offbeat Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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