A short, sweet cautionary tale, brimming with character.
In Usman’s picture book debut, a boy trades the sanctity of the local lake for a chance to own the clouds.
Jalal, who has black hair and light brown skin, lives in a village beside Lake Lanao in the Philippines. The lake provides fish for the village, and its waters are essential for drinking, bathing and irrigation. Every week, all the villagers but one celebrate the lake; the exception is Jalal, the only son of community leader Sulutan Abdul, who dreams of owning the clouds. When dark-suited men offer to grant his wish, asking to dump rubbish in the lake in exchange, Jalal begs his father to agree. The Sulutan does, with disastrous results (“Children are getting sick. We wish our lake was clean again”) that Jalal then has to set right. Because the story is presented bilingually—first in English then in the Austronesian language Meranaw—the pages appear text-heavy. The layout, however, makes astute use of blank spaces, and the two-page spreads offer ample visual input to balance the verbiage. Palita’s vibrant art brings the story to life, combining manga-style figures with digital watercolor backgrounds to capture the tranquil beauty of the landscape and the purple- and yellow-hued splendor of the Muslim festivities. The prominent use of curls as graphic elements adds a dreamlike quality that is suitable for fable—young children will find themselves immersed in Jalal’s world.
A short, sweet cautionary tale, brimming with character.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781733533522
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sari-Sari Storybooks
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.
The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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