For fans of the series, more of the same.
Pinkalicious goes to the beach.
All decked out in her signature color, Pinkalicious is happily beachcombing when she picks up a large shell, and out tumbles a pink-haired, aqua-finned (and bra’ed) miniature mermaid. The creature introduces herself as Aqua and explains that she is a merminnie, “a smaller, rarer species of mermaids.” Pinkalicious’ response is predictable: “WOWEEE!” Toting her new find in her beach bucket, the little girl carries her to her family’s (pink) umbrella and dumps her out to show her off. Aqua’s reaction is also predictable: she wants to go back home. Disregarding her captive’s desires, Pinkalicious and her little brother, Peter, build a big sandcastle for Aqua; the ungrateful thing still wants to go home, but the children distract her with a snack and a game of minigolf. After more mild adventures, the children finally put her in the ocean—but it turns out that Aqua is the star merminnie of the aquarium nearby. The children’s cruelty is never interrogated, beyond Aqua’s carping at being carried in the beach bucket. Kann’s digital collages feature stiff characters with often unnaturally long arms and disproportionately tiny feet; when they are not smiling vapidly, their mouths form little O’s of consternation. The text is riddled with exclamation points, as if hoping to make up in enthusiasm what it lacks in craft.
For fans of the series, more of the same. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-233016-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts.
A playful counting book also acts as a celebration of family and human diversity.
Shannon’s text is delivered in spare, rhythmic, lilting verse that begins with one and counts up to 10 as it presents different groupings of things and people in individual families, always emphasizing the unitary nature of each combination. “One is six. One line of laundry. One butterfly’s legs. One family.” Gomez’s richly colored pictures clarify and expand on all that the text lists: For “six,” a picture showing six members of a multigenerational family of color includes a line of laundry with six items hanging from it outside of their windows, as well as the painting of a six-legged butterfly that a child in the family is creating. While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. Interracial families are included, as are depictions of men with their arms around each other, and a Sikh man wearing a turban. This inclusive spirit supports the text’s culminating assertion that “One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.”
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-30003-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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