Thompson and Springett’s second collaboration (The Follower, not reviewed) follows a similar scenario—scary things following a child through a scary place. Here, the treasures the Native boy collects are “clinking and clicking and rustling” and conjuring up images of mysterious and dangerous animals following him. An imaginary fox or dog, a bear, and the dreaded Night Stalker threaten the boy as he walks then runs over the hills and through the forests. In his haste to escape from the sounds, the boy trips and is certain that the Night Stalker will pounce on him. He listens for the sounds and waits. The stillness of the night and the silence in the air lulls him to sleep and when he rises in the morning, he continues his journey in the light. His mother realizes that it was the treasures in his pouch that were making the ominous noises. Springett’s softly hued two-paged spreads capture the sense of imagined beings on a sweep of forward motion. Discerning readers will question why the treasures did not sound their clicking and clinking during the morning portion of his walk but nevertheless, this is a comfortably scary story that will evoke smiles for those who can imagine their own Night Stalker. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-55041-672-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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