Rich visuals evoke the parts of creative play that are hard for children to describe.
A boy’s drab verbal narrative contrasts with action-packed illustrations of fantastic adventures.
A small boy reading a book casts a horned shadow on his bedroom wall; he startles when his mother enters and asks, in the tradition of parents everywhere, what he did today. The White child narrator’s rote recitation, though lengthy, is empty of particularities: He grabbed his lunch, almost forgot his book bag, and then spent a day in school, played with friends, went home, and ate dinner. Author/illustrator Molinet’s accompanying images tell a far richer story packed with fantasies of jungle exploration, Indiana Jones–style escapes, a glass-domed space school where tentacled aliens teach classes to spacesuit-clad children, and a home life where Viking lord Dad roasts meat on a spit and serves it in front of a roaring castle fire. Best friend Jake, who’s Black, and Emily, who’s White, accompany our protagonist. Many of the fantasies are a tad overworked, with formulaic safari hats and swords-and-sorcery medieval props made interesting via the artwork’s detail and style. Scratchy crosshatched lines, creative composition, and digital painting in muted warm tones evoke indie comics of the early 1990s, and there is plenty of interest and light humor; a pickup game of football, for instance, becomes a battle between Vikings and armored knights over a startled live pig. Constant narration occasionally distracts from the images; readers may wish that parts of the book were textless to give more room to interpretation.
Rich visuals evoke the parts of creative play that are hard for children to describe.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73335-484-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Notable Kids Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn.
A young owl achieves his grand ambition.
Owl, an adorably earnest and gallant little owlet, dreams of being a knight. He imagines himself defeating dragons and winning favor far and wide through his brave exploits. When a record number of knights go missing, Owl applies to Knight School and is surprisingly accepted. He is much smaller than the other knights-in-training, struggles to wield weapons, and has “a habit of nodding off during the day.” Nevertheless, he graduates and is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. While patrolling the castle walls one night, a hungry dragon shows up and Owl must use his wits to avoid meeting a terrible end. The result is both humorous and heartwarming, offering an affirmation of courage and clear thinking no matter one’s size…and demonstrating the power of a midnight snack. The story never directly addresses the question of the missing knights, but it is hinted that they became the dragon’s fodder, leaving readers to question Owl’s decision to befriend the beast. Humor is supplied by the characters’ facial expressions and accented by the fact that Owl is the only animal in his order of big, burly human knights. Denise’s accomplished digital illustrations—many of which are full bleeds—often use a warm sepia palette that evokes a feeling of antiquity, and some spreads feature a pleasing play of chiaroscuro that creates suspense and drama.
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31062-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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