A satisfying finish, even as questions linger.
A boy leaves home due to circumstances that aren’t completely clear until the book’s conclusion.
This final installment in the Crow Stories trilogy features the familiar muted palette, Old West setting, and spare narrative of Vo’s previous books. Evocative illustrations, rendered in watercolor, ink, and acetone transfers of 19th-century newspaper clippings and posters, open on Jack, a light-skinned, dark-haired boy who “had many reasons to run, but when illness took his ma, that cinched it.” A sign for cholera prevention provides context. Jack is a resourceful traveler, sneaking onto a moving wagon and quenching his thirst at a woodland river. Two figures on horseback—concerned for his safety—bring him to their encampment, where he trades labor for food. The only clue to his mindset is a locket he holds dear with a photo of him and his sister. It is she, pale-skinned, with dark braids and wearing the orange scarf she sported in the second book in the series, The Ranger (2019), who finds him. A rust-colored tail visible at their reunion belongs to the fox Annie befriended. She explains that she had “many reasons” for being away so long but that she had always intended to come back for him. What links these titles other than the obvious? Perhaps each character is on a journey of grief, searching for the antidote. Is the outlaw in the first book possibly their father—one of his children’s “many reasons”?
A satisfying finish, even as questions linger. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781773064017
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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