Engaging but in need of some fine tuning to realize its imagination-stirring potential.
In this uneven but enjoyable fantasy, a young girl finds that a seemingly ordinary little pencil opens the door to a magical adventure.
Rachel’s pencil, which she calls “Stubby,” is more than it seems. When she puts ugly little Stubby to a blank page in her journal, her words seem to write themselves: “Once upon a time there was a unicorn named Greycloud….” Rachel can’t wait to return to her journal to see what happens next in the unfolding fantasy about a prince, a lost unicorn, a wicked wizard, and the prince’s allies, who have been turned into a caterpillar, a dragonfly, and a butterfly. Young readers will feel the same, particularly when the fantasy takes on a life of its own, propelling Rachel out of her everyday life and into a crucial role in the magical happenings. The mystery of Stubby is revealed in a satisfying aha moment as Rachel awakens to her own creative imagination and confidence. On the downside are a few easily correctable errors: paragraphs repeat, Rachel’s little brother is “eighty,” and the author uses “peeked” for “piqued.” Hobson (Callings: Tales of the Conrads of Karna, 2014, etc.) might also consider softening certain moments in Rachel’s “real” life having to do with best friend Cari, who, oddly, has no interest when Rachel tries to tell her about the strange pencil: “Can we talk?” “But I’m swinging,” Cari complains. Lack of interest becomes outright hostility when Cari ridicules Rachel’s desire to go to the library to write: “Cari’s eyes widened. Then she smirked. At last she broke out into a fit of laughter.” Cari’s attitude also leads to a sixth grader and his friends bullying Rachel in a jarring playground confrontation that becomes physical. “We want to see the pencil that made you crazy,” he says. These darker notes add some ill-fitting color.
Engaging but in need of some fine tuning to realize its imagination-stirring potential.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1312328372
Page Count: 106
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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