A charming tale that weaves together history, serene illustrations, and a pleasing rhyme scheme.
A little girl explores an abandoned house near her home on the San Juan Islands and discovers something entirely unexpected.
Mae longs to visit an abandoned house across the bay, but her father says she’s not old enough. On her birthday, she discovers a rowboat with a broom and key inside, and she’s warned to return before dark to avoid smugglers: “Their boats are full of whiskey / and bales of wool to sell / but I have heard they sometimes hide / a poor, scared man as well.” Once at the house, Mae uses the key to unlock it and the broom to sweep it. After cleaning all day, she heads out after dark and discovers two boats on the water. When she hears a splash, Mae discovers a man abandoned on a rock and brings him back to the house where she offers him food and shelter. When Mae and her father visit the house together the next day, the only sign that anyone had been there is a bracelet woven from broom straw. Hippely subtly inserts the San Juan Islands’ history (specifically its role in smuggling Chinese laborers after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which is explained in a concluding historical note) into the story (written in an ABCB rhyme scheme); all elements blend well. Moore’s watercolor images are simple but effective, with minimal facial details and a muted color palate of dark greens, yellows, blues, and browns.
A charming tale that weaves together history, serene illustrations, and a pleasing rhyme scheme.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781360502625
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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