A decidedly mixed bag of ideas that does not quite come together.
This unusual board book is a visual ode to both the rectangular and things that open and close.
In these nearly wordless pages, Jullien presents the gaping mouth of a monster, an aerial view of a tennis court, and the keyboard of a piano, to name a few, in droll cartoons employing thick, black lines. The ideas here range from the clever (the image of a youngster reading inside a tent encourages readers to stand up the book as if it were a tent) to the everyday and banal (the inside of a toolbox), often encouraging youngsters to change the orientation of the book. Very young children, who are the core board-book readers, may appreciate the items that are the most identifiable, particularly the open refrigerator and butterfly. The open laptop, complete with keyboard, may prove a dated reference to tablet-wielding toddlers. A double gatefold (the only one) opens up to a kid reading a book titled This Is a Book, but there is no setup for this revelation. The page turn that reveals white buttocks (with the crack running down the gutter) will prompt a few giggles once it’s parsed. While Jullien’s art is delightful, it is a shame he couldn’t diversify the subjects in these scenes; few, if any, of the people depicted are people of color.
A decidedly mixed bag of ideas that does not quite come together. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7148-7112-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Superheroes, and readers, will live happily-ever-after.
Why have fairy tales lasted so long? Maybe it’s because they change with every teller.
It takes surprisingly little effort to turn the Three Little Pigs into superheroes. The Big Bad Wolf basically started out as a supervillain, with the ability to blow a house down, and the pigs had to perform spectacular feats to outwit him. In this picture book, the wolf, locked in the Happily Never After tower, devises a plot to escape. Using rotten eggs and spicy ginger, he creates the Gingerbread Man, who makes his way to a baking contest where the three pigs and other fairy-tale characters are competing to win the key to the city. The Gingerbread Man grabs the key, and not even superhero pigs are fast enough to catch him, but with their secret weapon—mustard (which one of the pigs also uses to bake cookies)—they save the day. The morals: Evil never triumphs, and mustard cookies are delicious. The book’s charm is in the details. There are splotches of mustard on the cookies featured on the endpapers, and a sly-looking mouse is hiding on many of the pages. The story even manages to include more than a dozen fairy-tale figures without seeming frenzied. Evans’ use of shading is so skillful that it almost seems possible to reach out and touch the characters. Most of the human characters are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Superheroes, and readers, will live happily-ever-after. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-68221-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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