An inspiring tale for inventors of all ages.
A young girl secretly invents a machine to impress her father.
Cleonardo wishes to be an inventor like her father, Geonardo, and grandfather Leonardo. While her father welds metal and hammers bolts, she sources her materials from nature. Cleo offers to help her father for their town’s annual Grand Festival of Inventions, but he does not take her suggestions seriously. In order to impress her father, Cleo decides create her own invention for the festival. With the help of her grandfather and his favorite tool, she secretly constructs her machine using materials found in the forest. Missing his daughter by his side, Geonardo invents his greatest piece, hoping to lure Cleo back to his workshop. On the day of the festival. Geonardo excitedly releases his invention, a mechanical bird, only to have it malfunction and hurtle toward the crowds. It’s up to Cleo to save her townspeople using her forest-inspired invention. GrandPré creates a spirited heroine with both her words and her illustrations. She effortlessly depicts Cleo’s unconventional imagination with the flowers woven through her wavy brown hair and her description of the forest Cleo loves. The story will inspire young readers to embrace their creativity, no matter their preferred medium. Cleo and her family appear to be white; their Renaissance-inflected town is cheerily diverse.
An inspiring tale for inventors of all ages. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-439-35764-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
This multigenerational snuggle will encourage the sharing of old memories and the creation of new ones.
Hill and Bobbiesi send a humungous hug from grandmothers to their granddaughters everywhere.
Delicate cartoon art adds details to the rhyming text showing multigenerational commonalities. “You and I are alike in such wonderful ways. / You will see more and more as you grow” (as grandmother and granddaughter enjoy the backyard together); “I wobbled uncertainly just as you did / whenever I tried something new” (as a toddler takes first steps); “And if a bad dream woke me up in the night, / I snuggled up with my lovey too” (grandmother kisses granddaughter, who clutches a plush narwhal). Grandmother-granddaughter pairs share everyday joys like eating ice cream, dancing “in the rain,” and making “up silly games.” Although some activities skew stereotypically feminine (baking, yoga), a grandmother helps with a quintessential volcano experiment (this pair presents black, adding valuable STEM representation), another cheers on a young wheelchair athlete (both present Asian), and a third, wearing a hijab, accompanies her brown-skinned granddaughter on a peace march, as it is “important to speak out for what you believe.” The message of unconditional love is clear throughout: “When you need me, I’ll be there to listen and care. / There is nothing that keeps us apart.” The finished book will include “stationery…for a special letter from Grandma to you!”
This multigenerational snuggle will encourage the sharing of old memories and the creation of new ones. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0623-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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