This charming, engaging story offers a funny look at what happens when a child’s imagination unfurls.
In this debut rhyming picture book, Sabrina has masses of wild, curly blond hair and worries that there may be animals—like dinosaurs—living in there.
Five-year-old Sabrina faces a tough challenge: her crazy curls are difficult to comb and manage. When her mother tells her that “Creatures could hide out there,” Sabrina starts to worry she could be right: “Underneath all this mess, / Tangled up in my hair, / What if there are dinosaurs / Living in there?” Jealous that her short-haired brother can get ready quickly, Sabrina wishes her mother were the one with the problem; still, Sabrina tries to remain calm and not worry. When the clock strikes 8:30 and it’s time to get ready for school, Sabrina goes through her daily routine: getting dressed, grabbing her pink bow, and heading to the mirror with her blue comb to try and tame her curls. “The combing and brushing / Does little to help, / Still plenty of places / To hide at my scalp. / I think I see movement / Is Mom really right? / Do dinosaurs live / In my hair out of sight?” After spotting some T. rexes, raptors, and bats living in her hair, Sabrina’s mother brushes them all out, and Sabrina and her brothers are safe to go to school. Sabrina is a funny, sweet narrator who encounters a problem many kids may have—letting their imaginations run rampant. Told in rhyme, each page of verse contains four lines that give the story a singsong quality, while Matsick’s big, colorful illustrations help kids see Sabrina’s entanglements. The authors are at work on subsequent volumes in the series, and given the warm tone of the story and its relatable main character, there’s certainly potential for more.
This charming, engaging story offers a funny look at what happens when a child’s imagination unfurls.Pub Date: April 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9861922-0-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rosevallee Creations
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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