When Jed discovers an old toy of his father’s in the attic, it catapults him into a fabulous agrarian fantasy. “Let’s just say that was some farmer,” says his father with a wink, and so he is. Corn cob pipe clenched cheerfully in his teeth, the farmer sits in his tractor, seeming at first like any old tin toy. But when Jed wakes up the next morning, he finds that his green rug has been tilled into an orderly field, out of which, days later, sprouts a remarkable pumpkin. Pelletier gives readers a beguiling concept, allowing the lines between reality and fantasy to blur pleasingly. It’s but a simple step from Jed’s singing “Blue Moon of Kentucky” along with his toy to entering his humongous pumpkin in a fantastic toy county fair. Nash’s illustrations beautifully facilitate the reader’s acceptance of the premise, rendering Jed’s “reality” in soft pastels and the toy farmer and his world in sharp-edged cartoons. It’s a gentle homage to the power of a child’s imagination, where the fantasy world created in play always seems more solid than plain old reality. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-525-47649-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
A marketing trip from Miranda (Glad Monster, Sad Monster, p. 1309) that jiggity jigs off in time-honored nursery-rhyme fashion, but almost immediately derails into well-charted chaos. The foodstuffs—the fat pig, the red hen, the plump goose, the pea pods, peppers, garlic, and spice—are wholly reasonable in light of the author's mention of shopping at traditional Spanish mercados, which stock live animals and vegetables. Stevens transfers the action to a standard American supermarket and a standard American kitchen, bringing hilarity to scenes that combine acrylics, oil pastels, and colored pencil with photo and fabric collage elements. The result is increasing frazzlement for the shopper, an older woman wearing spectacles, hat, and purple pumps (one of which is consumed by her groceries). It's back to market one last time for ingredients for the hot vegetable soup she prepares for the whole bunch. True, her kitchen's trashed and she probably won't find a welcome mat at her supermarket hereafter, but all's well that ends well—at least while the soup's on. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-15-200035-6
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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