Amos Jellybean knows he’s bright (his mum says so), but he still always seems to scramble the many instructions he’s given: “So I . . . take my bed downstairs, put it on the table, sit down on my breakfast and eat my clothes.” Further communication breakdowns result in wearing his bag on his head, washing his rubber duck and ending up with a stomach-turning concoction (think pickled strudel) generated by a lunchtime bout of swapping. The mix-ups are fun and funny, but they start to wear thin towards the end. In addition, Walsh’s choppy, crazy collage artwork and design (reminiscent of Lauren Child’s) fail to maximize the humor of Amos’s rampant mangling of instructions—partly because the illustrations and layouts are so stylized it’s difficult to visualize the scenarios at hand. In the end, as the title foretells, Amos finally follows his commands to a T; he remembers to put on his pyjamas (British spellings abound), clean his teeth, choose a bedtime story and all—and the big, bold, full-page question mark that precedes the story is now an emphatic exclamation point as he proudly proclaims, “I did it!” (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-340-88222-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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