A fanciful tale that’s likely to delight young readers.
Kanter and St. Amour’s picture book presents a modern-day fable of money and greed.
Armando and his wife, Elisa, have four children and live a comfortable life on the estate of wealthy Giuliano Cantore. Elisa is “endowed with fanciful ideas—but also a pragmatist.” Armando, meanwhile, “wished to buy Giuliano’s estate someday,” and keeps his life savings of gold coins in a small wine barrel. Early on, the narrator introduces readers to “Puttifurbi”—beings who mysteriously and mischievously move people’s possessions around. One day, Armando awakens to happily discover that “eleven gold coins tumbled from his tousled hair and onto the wood-planked floor.” This apparent “gift from the angels” continues nightly, but Elisa believes it’s a Puttifurbi prank. The authors weave a rich, traditional fable, frequently addressing “Dear reader” and offering reminders about “olden times.” Textual imagery will help young readers see the story in their mind’s eye: “the cold winter sun hung low like a pink jewel on the horizon.” It’s a clever tale with lessons about envy and avarice mingled with humor, with an ending that includes a major real-life historical figure. Secondary characters, such as Elise’s grandmother, Lucia, and Armando’s brother, Marco, are also entertaining. Philtjens’ illustrations complement the text well with their whimsical style and rich, warm colors.
A fanciful tale that’s likely to delight young readers.Pub Date: May 14, 2023
ISBN: 9798986446141
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pactum Factum Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Haphazard but jolly enough for one outing; it probably won’t last for more.
A flurry of mail addressed to Duncan’s crayons ushers in the Christmas season in this novelty spinoff of the bestselling The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) and The Day the Crayons Came Home (2015).
Actual cards and letters are tucked into envelopelike pouches pasted to the pages; these are joined in some cases by other ephemera for a package that is likely to invite sudden, intense play followed by loss and/or damage that will render the book a disappointment to reread. That’s probably OK, as in contrast to the clever story that kicked this small series off, this outing has a hastily composed feel that lacks cohesion. The first letter is addressed to Peach from Mom and includes a paper doll of the “naked” (de-wrappered) crayon along with a selection of tabbed changes of clothing that includes a top hat and tails and a bikini top and bottom. Peach’s implied gender fluidity does not mitigate the unfortunate association of peach with skin color established in the first book. The sense of narrative improvisation is cemented with an early page turn that takes the crayons from outdoors snow play to “Feeling…suddenly very Christmas-y, the crayons headed inside.” Readers can unpack a box of punch-out decorations; a recipe for gluten-free Christmas cookies that begins “go to store and buy gluten-free cookies”; a punch-out dreidel (turns out Grey is Jewish); a board game (“six-sided die” not included); and a map of Esteban (aka Pea Green) and Neon Red’s travels with Santa.
Haphazard but jolly enough for one outing; it probably won’t last for more. (Novelty. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-51574-6
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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