True to life, if lacking cohesion.
Somebody’s cranky.
Like all other characters in this picture book, the first-person narrator isn’t named. She presents as a Black girl with light-brown skin, her hair styled in Afro puffs. The text details that she’s cranky for many reasons, chief among them her mischievous little brother, who is also Black and has darker brown skin and a cloudlike Afro. Illustrator Hatam adroitly uses facial expressions to depict the protagonist’s displeasure with her brother and her angst at perceived injustices meted out by her parents (mom shares the brother’s coloring while the father shares the main character’s). Such details as the narrator’s red, scowling “cranky boots” and interactions with the family’s pets add further interest. The text is masterful in its misdirection and displacement of responsibility: “It’s not my fault that certain people / have no patience at all. / And the cat ate the cookies. / Nothing is fair. / And nobody cares.” While the scenarios feel quite realistic, about three-quarters of the way through, the text begins to use end rhymes: “Then, chances are, after a good, tired flop, / The cranky in me will decide to stop.” This transition both feels disjointed from the beginning part of the book and somehow has the effect of leaching some of the emotional power from the text—and it may make some readers feel confused if not cranky.
True to life, if lacking cohesion. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68364-664-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sounds True
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
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