This sweet volume is sure to bounce off the shelves.
A perky rabbit and a fancy candy become best friends in this cheerful graphic novel.
Bunbun, an all-white rabbit, has almost everything: “a delightful Bunbun nose, a winning Bunbun smile, a ridiculously cute Bunbun tail,” and so on. But the one thing Bunbun does not have is a friend! Enter Bonbon. Initially mistaken for a talking rock, Bonbon is a bouncy, purple, and effervescently cheerful anthropomorphic piece of candy. The pair immediately becomes fast friends as they discover mutual passions for bouncing and for all things fancy: fancy vocabulary whether or not they know the meaning (“like croissant”), music, food (“fancy french fries and fancy ketchup!”). This all leads them to co-plan a fancy party! The story is virtually conflict-free; the most tension-filled moment is when the duo comes across a snake whom they assume to be a predator but who in fact is just looking for friendship too and ultimately joins their party. Both Bunbun and Bonbon remain ungendered throughout; neither is referred to with pronouns. Thick lines, clear borders, bright colors, and a bold, highly readable san serif type make this title ideal for newly independent readers or younger children looking for a first graphic novel to share with a grown-up. The multitalented Keating’s debut graphic novel is perfect for fans of Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly and Heather Ayris Burnell and Hazel Quintanilla’s Unicorn and Yeti.
This sweet volume is sure to bounce off the shelves. (Graphic early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-64683-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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