A soaring promise that having the courage to act on one’s dreams is all that really matters.
Making a rash but worthy choice, a child frees a neighbor’s caged flock of tropical birds.
When young Sara sees that the strange little wire house she passes on her way to school has been filled with noisy parakeets, she remembers how cardinals, cape canaries, and turtledoves used to gather in her grandpa’s yard every afternoon to chirp and coo—and snatch at the handful of rice he would throw in the air at 4:00 each afternoon. The next day, she opens the cage and accepts the ensuing punishment from her parents…who tell her, worrisomely, that birds not used to being free might not be able to fend for themselves. That night, though, she dreams of flocks of brown and lesser noddies, terns, and other birds flying free in the nature preserve on nearby Cocos Island and is reassured: “All will be well, as long as the world has wings to dream.” Some of the act’s consequences are a bit glossed over, but its profound rewards are clear. Patel sets her tale on her native island of Mauritius (where it was originally published, in French), and for her illustrations Tchoukriel not only depicts settings and the dark-skinned residents, but also the many birds in careful, exact detail. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A soaring promise that having the courage to act on one’s dreams is all that really matters. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66250-093-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amazon Crossing Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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