Entertaining writing and appealing illustrations encourage kids to tap into their resources.
A boy channels his inner Ninja for courage and motivation in this debut picture book.
Milo is a young, active white boy with tons of energy—except in the morning. When he wakes up, he snuggles deeper into his bed, “a glorious cocoon of warm, cozy goodness,” and imagines staying there forever. Getting to school is a battle. But ever since he was 3 years old, Milo has had an “awesome” Tiny Ninja companion, a masked figure just like himself who is brave, considerate, and strong. One night, Milo’s mom asks him to be on time the next morning, because she has an important meeting. He agrees, but when he wakes, he stays under the covers. Tiny Ninja comes to the rescue. Milo’s companion gets the boy ready for school in no time, making the child’s mother proud. Tiny Ninja assures Milo he’ll always be with him. Throughout, several full-spread illustrations invite readers to find the hidden Ninjas, allowing them to practice attention to detail. In her series opener, Graham uses the tiny but fierce Ninja as a clever metaphor for the duller-sounding concepts of responsibility and growing up. Also enlivening is the author’s amusing narration, as when Milo avoids fault by pretending: “I’m a helpless dinosaur. The tar pits are sucking me in!” The pastel images by Valieva (The Can Be Book, 2018) are alive with personality, incident, and detail, especially in the search-for-Ninjas pages.
Entertaining writing and appealing illustrations encourage kids to tap into their resources.Pub Date: April 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64237-467-4
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2019
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
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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