Visual charm, a simple plot, and a big-hearted royal young hero.
A little princess knows just what to do about her new fairy friends’ big problem in Waldecker’s illustrated children’s book.
Adventure-loving Princess Ella is sure that the stories about fairies living in a secret garden in the woods are true, but her previous searches for the magical place have been unsuccessful. This time, however, the princess discovers a hidden path in the forest “lined with the most incredible flowers and plants” where “the air shone with a misty glow.” She knows that the fairies’ garden has to be near. It turns out that the fairies have been hoping to meet Princess Ella because they have a problem and hope she can help: Woodcutters from Ella’s kingdom are getting too close to the magical garden as they chop down trees to build homes for the human villagers. Ella, depicted as a sweet-faced little girl with blond hair and big blue eyes, knows exactly what to do: She offers the villagers an alternative forest to reap for wood with the proviso that they plant new trees as they go. The villagers are surprisingly compliant, considering that they’re not told why they must change their way of doing things. But children will easily grasp that Ella feels that caring for living things—fairies, people, and trees—is important. Waldecker again teams with prolific children’s book illustrator Geyer, who created the eye-catching, whimsical artwork for the two previous books in the Princess Ella Adventures series, Princess Ella and the Great Squirrel Chase (2023) and Princess Ella and the Missing Kittens (2023). Geyer contributes a lush palette (soft greens, blues, purples, and yellows) and delicately rendered details (of trees, flowers, foliage, waterfalls, sparkly lights, and tiny, multicolored fairies shimmering in clouds of fairy dust). The alternately black and white text, rendered in a cozy, readable font, is set against solid-colored design elements within the full-page illustrations. Reflecting Princess Ella’s adventurous spirit and her kind and helpful heart, this simply told story should please preschoolers and young readers alike.
Visual charm, a simple plot, and a big-hearted royal young hero.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9798988126577
Page Count: 34
Publisher: P.E. Adventures Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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