While it features some odd rhymes and a mishmash of cold-climate animals, this tale delivers a strong message that...
A young penguin helps a drifting iceberg reunite with his family in this debut picture book.
One day, a penguin sees an iceberg floating all alone. Curious about the solitary iceberg, he swims over. At first, the iceberg is silent, but eventually the penguin realizes that he’s tremendously sad. The iceberg explains that he was swept out to sea, away from everyone he cares about. Determined to do something for his new friend, the penguin swims against the current that brought his pal and is surprised to find that the iceberg clan, complete with animal cohorts, is floating toward its missing family member. When they return to where the penguin left the lost one, the iceberg is gone—but after a moment, the bird realizes that his drifting friend has been transformed by the journey and now looks like a diamond, the light glimmering off newly crystalline edges. Mascarelli’s verse scans well, but sometimes the rhymes are a stretch and feel out of context within the setting: “I dive into the water / and swim by his side. / Next to the iceberg / I’m as small as a fly.” Readers who know something about Arctic and Antarctic critters will likely spot that the combination of animals hails from both places. Mascarelli and illustrator Grau offer a note in the front that they know these creatures don’t actually mix, but savvy readers may still question the inclusion. They may also wonder why icebergs have families or why it’s odd to see an isolated one. But young lap readers who haven’t yet encountered that type of science-based questioning should love Grau’s round-edged cartoon animals, especially the penguins with bow ties, and enjoy the iceberg’s beautiful transformation as well as his multishaped clan. The ending page, which shows several families (iceberg, penguin, and walrus) gathering together in happiness, is a heartwarming conclusion to a story light on conflict but full of love.
While it features some odd rhymes and a mishmash of cold-climate animals, this tale delivers a strong message that celebrates the joys of working hard to assist a new friend.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9984125-0-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Aridan Books
Review Posted Online: April 28, 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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