by René Colato Laínez & illustrated by Tom Lintern ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 2010
Mexican-American Miguelito loses his tooth and so begins an amusing battle between the Tooth Fairy and El Ratón Pérez. Colato Laínez keeps the storytelling lively with bilingual exclamations seamlessly embedded in the dialogue between the two tooth-seekers. Through a series of entertaining misadventures the tooth seems unattainable until the rivals agree to work together. Lintern infuses the pixie Tooth Fairy with glowing pastel colors while portraying the dashing El Ratón Pérez with contrasting earthy hues. To perhaps signify the characters’ common goal and eventual collaboration, the illustrator uses the same pale pink for the fairy’s wings and the mouse’s ears. After El Ratón Pérez uses el diente to fashion a rocket ship to visit the moon, the Tooth Fairy gets the tooth to help build her sparkling castle. And not only is Miguelito rewarded with two shiny coins under his pillow, but readers are treated to a clever introduction to two charming folk customs. (author’s note, glossary of Spanish terms) (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 23, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58246-296-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
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by René Colato Laínez ; illustrated by Nomar Perez
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by René Colato Laínez ; illustrated by Nomar Perez
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by René Colato Laínez ; illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck
by Mallory Loehr & illustrated by Pamela Silin-Palmer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 2006
The can’t-miss subject of this Step into Reading series entry—a unicorn with a magic horn who also longs for wings—trumps its text, which is dry even by easy-reader standards. A boy unicorn, whose horn has healing powers, reveals his wish to a butterfly in a castle garden, a bluebird in the forest and a snowy white swan in a pond. Falling asleep at the edge of the sea, the unicorn is visited by a winged white mare. He heals her broken wing and she flies away. After sadly invoking his wish once more, he sees his reflection: “He had big white wings!” He flies off after the mare, because he “wanted to say, ‘Thank you.’ ” Perfectly suiting this confection, Silin-Palmer’s pictures teem with the mass market–fueled iconography of what little girls are (ostensibly) made of: rainbows, flowers, twinkly stars and, of course, manes down to there. (Easy reader. 4-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83117-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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BOOK REVIEW
by Mallory Loehr & illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
by Justin Rhodes ; illustrated by Heather Dickinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2023
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
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