A little boy who disrupts the play of two girls and their pet cat finds redemption but no real consequences.
The opening verso sports a wavy line of stylized lettering: “Ella, Maddy, and Marmalade were best friends.” On the recto, the cartoonlike girls and orange cat, all with eyes closed in contentment, trot across a bare white background, nicely inviting readers to turn the page. At the turn, the girls are building a playhouse as “Toby, the boy from across the road, joined in.” Children will enjoy this understatement as they view the resultant havoc. Although Toby shows no malice, he also shows little remorse as he thrice destroys the collaborative sandbox creations of Maddy and Ella. With maddeningly stereotypical gender norms, the girls show both restraint and passive-aggressiveness in reaction to Toby’s behavior. All three children are wide-eyed, pen-and-ink moppets, with the girls in dresses and Toby wearing a superhero’s cape. Marmalade is a cutesy, large-headed cat who infuriates the girls by taking a fancy to Toby. When Toby frightens Marmalade up a tree, his cape then provides a means of rescue, and the next day, all three children and the cat play together happily. The artwork and layout are reminiscent of a mid-1970s aesthetic, an odd environment for a theme that seems to value individualistic, destructive behavior over collaborative, creative play.
This will resonate with parents who are in denial about their progeny’s consistently disruptive behavior. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 22, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2046-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Oliver, of first-day-of-school alligator fame, is back, imagining adventures and still struggling to find balance between introversion and extroversion.
“When Oliver found his egg…” on the playground, mint-green backgrounds signifying Oliver’s flight into fancy slowly grow larger until they take up entire spreads; Oliver’s creature, white and dinosaurlike with orange polka dots, grows larger with them. Their adventures include sharing treats, sailing the seas and going into outer space. A classmate’s yell brings him back to reality, where readers see him sitting on top of a rock. Even considering Schmid’s scribbly style, readers can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he ponders the girl and whether or not to give up his solitary play. “But when Oliver found his rock… // Oliver imagined many adventures // with all his friends!” This last is on a double gatefold that opens to show the children enjoying the creature’s slippery curves. A final wordless spread depicts all the children sitting on rocks, expressions gleeful, wondering, waiting, hopeful. The illustrations, done in pastel pencil and digital color, again make masterful use of white space and page turns, although this tale is not nearly as funny or tongue-in-cheek as Oliver and His Alligator (2013), nor is its message as clear and immediately accessible to children.
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for all children but sadly isn’t. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7573-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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Dot, the smallest reindeer at the North Pole, is too little to fly with the reindeer team on Christmas Eve, but she helps Santa in a different, unexpected way.
Dot is distressed because she can’t jump and fly like the other, bigger reindeer. Her family members encourage her and help her practice her skills, and her mother tells her, “There’s always next year.” Dot’s elf friend, Oliver, encourages her and spends time playing with her, doing things that Dot can do well, such as building a snowman and chasing their friend Yeti (who looks like a fuzzy, white gumdrop). On Christmas Eve, Santa and the reindeer team take off with their overloaded sleigh. Only Dot notices one small present that’s fallen in the snow, and she successfully leaps into the departing sleigh with the gift. This climactic flying leap into the sleigh is not adequately illustrated, as Dot is shown just starting to leap and then already in the sleigh. A saccharine conclusion notes that being little can sometimes be great and that “having a friend by your side makes anything possible.” The story is pleasant but predictable, with an improbably easy solution to Dot’s problem. Illustrations in a muted palette are similarly pleasant but predictable, with a greeting-card flavor that lacks originality. The elf characters include boys, girls, and adults; all the elves and Santa and Mrs. Claus are white.
A forgettable tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-15738-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
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