A humorous depiction of life with a terrible toddler, always underscored by his family’s love.
A naughty child annoys his parents and older brother in a series of vignettes in this debut picture book.
Gabe has a dream life. He’s an only child, the center of his parents’ world: “Mom and Dad loved me and me alone.” Then Gabe’s little brother, Henry, arrives. At age 4, Gabe struggles with this new addition to the family. When Gabe reaches 5, things get even worse, as 1-year-old Henry turns life into a battle of wills. Dunlavey’s comical illustrations show a child in the midst of a terrifying toddlerhood, running naked through the house with a flying stream of toilet paper behind him, and leaving a sippy cup spilled on the floor alongside broken crayons and lamps. Meanwhile, a onesie with the message “Mommy’s little angel” hangs from a chandelier. Gabe laments that everyone, from waitresses to grocery store customers, hates his family. By 2, Henry hasn’t gotten any better, and spends an entire appointment at the doctor’s office trying to throw a kid’s chair through the office fish tank. He poops in the public pool and throws his sippy cup under the car’s brake. Despite these abysmal incidents, Gabe slowly begins to take Henry’s side. When the day care provider hands their mother yet another incident report, Gabe explains, “It wasn’t always Henry’s fault.” And at the horrible checkup, Gabe thinks, “Poor Henry. I don’t always like the doctor visits either.” While there’s no discernible reason for Gabe to sympathize with his brother in Giese’s tale, the boy’s wry voice and his growing love for such a troublesome sibling has a sweet, encouraging feel to it—even if the narrator does sleep with one eye open. Though most of Dunlavey’s illustrations, which realistically depict a Caucasian family in colored pencil with textured shading, show expressions of exasperation on the faces of everyone but Henry, some scenes reinforce the affection family members clearly feel for their young tyrant. For sheer giggles at Henry’s antics, this book should delight young readers, despite the lack of plot or character development.
A humorous depiction of life with a terrible toddler, always underscored by his family’s love.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-80741-5
Page Count: 36
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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