An often helpful tutorial for beginning puppeteers.
Magician and ventriloquist Vee offers a kid-friendly, step-by-step guide to creating puppets and learning ventriloquism.
A young narrator with pale skin and short brown hair initially invites readers to make their own sock puppet. Starting, of course, with a sock—“One that doesn’t stink works best!”—and other craft items, such as felt, yarn, glue, and a cardboard tube, the narrator goes through the puppet-making process. The first step is forming an idea of the character, followed by constructing the puppet out of various materials, creating a unique voice for the puppet’s character, and finally learning ventriloquism. Much of the last half of the book is dedicated to the latter art, including teaching proper lip positions, how to fake consonants that require the use of one’s lips, and even how to breathe effectively. The book also covers puppetry performance aspects, such as where to direct a puppet’s eyes and how to move its mouth in sync with one’s voice. Finally, the narrator encourages readers to write their own scripts and jokes for their puppet—although the sample joke is a bit of a letdown. Endnotes discuss the difference between soft puppets and hard figures, such as standard ventriloquist dummies, and provide links for readers who wish to learn more about puppeteers and crafters. The author skips some of the construction process (how to create the puppet’s clothing, for instance, is never addressed), but his instructions on how to perform as a ventriloquist are clear and valuable. Vee presents the information as if he’s revealing trade secrets, sharing knowledge through the fictional narrator in a way that invites young readers into the community. Raymundo’s full-color cartoon illustrations serve as useful models, demonstrating mouth shapes and positions as well as proper breathing and puppet positioning. However, readers may be disappointed at the general lack of female representation in these pages; the only female-coded puppet is pink with long eyelashes and a bow in her hair.
An often helpful tutorial for beginning puppeteers.Pub Date: July 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780985478247
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atlas Press
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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