Funny and charming—a winning, worthy follow-up.
The irrepressible Flora returns for an encore avian duet, this time on ice with a penguin.
Similar in feel to Idle’s Caldecott Honor book, Flora and the Flamingo (2013), this wordless picture book follows Flora as she dons her ice skates, spies an intriguing beak poking up through the ice and begins her balletic adventure. Bird and girl meet and greet, then glide, twirl and pirouette together on the ice. Their newfound harmony is disrupted when the penguin spies a fish and disappears rapidly through a hole in the ice, causing Flora to glide away in a sulk. But wait! He was not ignoring her, just bringing her a gift! Having no use for a fish, she casually flips it back into the water, much to the penguin’s chagrin. Now both are in a huff, and Flora grumpily removes her skates. The dangling lace gives her an idea, and she creatively uses it as a fishing line. Penguin is appeased, and now both are engaged in common pursuits, fishing and dancing. Idle’s restrained palette of icy blues and soft grays combined with fluid composition that always leads the eye to the next scene in the drama keep the wordless narrative effortlessly flowing along. Small double-sided flaps on some of the pages expand the visual vocabulary, and a subtle message about friendship and compromise is conveyed.
Funny and charming—a winning, worthy follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2891-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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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