Readers won’t miss the gracefully delivered message: Generosity and friendship triumph over greedy self-absorption.
In this allegory about interconnectedness, a girl with a literal taste for stars inadvertently robs others of their light.
On a clear winter night, ginger-haired Molly reaches up to pluck a star from the sky—and finds it delicious. She crunches and gobbles until she feels “warm and bright, inside and out.” Commencing her evening walk, she encounters friends, who proffer a lantern, warming tea, and an invitation to a gathering. Molly rejects each offer; her captured stars provide all the light, warmth, and comfort she needs. She climbs to her favorite high point, where she realizes how her selfishness has deprived the now “dark and gloomy world” of its exquisite starlight. Hesselberth depicts Molly’s dress as a kind of cage: While the stars she’s consumed glow visibly, their luminosity doesn’t extend beyond her. Remorsefully, she uses a key to unlock her garment, returning the stars to the sky. Feeling empty, she retraces her route home but sees her four friends, sharing a telescope, a picnic—and community. Gratefully, she joins them as Hesselberth gently conveys a strong yet never heavy-handed warning against selfishness. The nocturnal palette of wintry purples and deep blues is accented with complementary tints of pale orange and yellow. Molly is light-skinned, and her friends’ faces are pastel blue, mauve, and butter-yellow, suggesting a hyperstylized diversity. Simple six-pointed stars glint across galaxies of gestural color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Readers won’t miss the gracefully delivered message: Generosity and friendship triumph over greedy self-absorption. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-940-1
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for...
Oliver, of first-day-of-school alligator fame, is back, imagining adventures and still struggling to find balance between introversion and extroversion.
“When Oliver found his egg…” on the playground, mint-green backgrounds signifying Oliver’s flight into fancy slowly grow larger until they take up entire spreads; Oliver’s creature, white and dinosaurlike with orange polka dots, grows larger with them. Their adventures include sharing treats, sailing the seas and going into outer space. A classmate’s yell brings him back to reality, where readers see him sitting on top of a rock. Even considering Schmid’s scribbly style, readers can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he ponders the girl and whether or not to give up his solitary play. “But when Oliver found his rock… // Oliver imagined many adventures // with all his friends!” This last is on a double gatefold that opens to show the children enjoying the creature’s slippery curves. A final wordless spread depicts all the children sitting on rocks, expressions gleeful, wondering, waiting, hopeful. The illustrations, done in pastel pencil and digital color, again make masterful use of white space and page turns, although this tale is not nearly as funny or tongue-in-cheek as Oliver and His Alligator (2013), nor is its message as clear and immediately accessible to children.
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for all children but sadly isn’t. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7573-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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