McCaughrean (Silver Treasure, p. 144, etc.) fashions a legend for the unicorns that gets hung up on idolatry: These creatures are too wonderful, too selfless for their own good. Noah is on the ark, unhappy with the look of the sky and feeling those first few drops. All the creatures are headed his way, but a few need help, and the unicorns are there, ferrying balky tortoises across the water, nudging forward a deer mired in muck, warming a soaked butterfly until it can fly, and more. These kind deeds delay the unicorns too long and they miss the boat. Even worse, Noah suggests that vanity, fecklessness, or slowness delayed the unicornsironically, the very behaviors that caused the others problems in the first place. The unicorns and their children become the ocean's waves. That last piece of treacle finishes off the story, which lacks drama, crisis, and scale. Windham's watercolors, with their eclectic imagery, are the book's one source of epic endeavor. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-8234-1319-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nelson uses the old spiritual—offered here, astonishingly, in its first singleton, illustrated edition, though it’s available in many collections—as a springboard to celebrate family togetherness. Each line of a four-verse version of the lyric captions an intimate scene of an African-American lad, three sibs (one, lighter-skinned, perhaps adopted) and two parents in various combinations, posing together in both city (San Francisco) and country settings, sharing “the moon and the stars,” “the wind and the clouds,” “the oceans and the seas,” and so on. Sandwiched between views of, more or less, the whole world, Nelson alternates finished paintings in his characteristic strong, bold style with authentically childlike crayon drawings done with his left hand—demonstrating a superb ability to evoke both grand and naïve effects. Moving, reverent, spiritual indeed. (musical arrangement to close) (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2850-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2005
Fans of such characters as Big Nate and Stink will likely enjoy the silly humor and adventures in this series opener, while...
A humorous early chapter book featuring childish adventures, biblical concepts, and Christian life.
This outing is the first in the planned Dead Sea Squirrels series by the co-creator of Veggie Tales. As readers familiar with Veggie Tales might expect, there are elements of character-building and morality, Bible verses, and depictions of Christian life throughout this chapter book for elementary school children. Michael Gomez and his best friend, Justin, spend the summer with Michael’s archaeologist father at a dig on the shores of the Dead Sea, where Michael makes a “gross”—that is to say "cool”— discovery: two salt-withered, ancient squirrel bodies. The theme of the book—the commandment to honor thy father and mother—is illustrated by Michael’s disobedience to his father and his subsequent consequences and remorse. However, there is plenty of humor to tickle young readers, and the target audience will undoubtedly laugh out loud. Séguin-Magee’s many grayscale illustrations are appealingly cartoonish and funny. They depict presumably Latinx Dr. Gomez and Michael with brown skin, while Michael’s mother and Justin both present white. The book ends with a cliffhanger that will make readers happy sequel Boy Meets Squirrels publishes simultaneously.
Fans of such characters as Big Nate and Stink will likely enjoy the silly humor and adventures in this series opener, while many of their caregivers will appreciate the character-building lessons . (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4964-3498-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Tyndale House
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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