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FULL MOON

Name: FULL MOON
Author: Brian Wilcox
ISBN: 0-385-32792-7

by Brian Wilcox & Lawrence David & illustrated by Brian Wilcox ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2001

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A boy who lives in the countryside gets a glass globe of the city where his grandmother lives as a birthday gift. Readers can see right away that it’s a magical globe, as it hovers over his nightstand next to Grandma’s picture. When he awakes in the middle of the night, he hooks his fishline on to the full moon and it pulls him to the city. There, “swooping roller coasters” twist among the skyscrapers, the zoo finds monkeys blowing bubbles and ostriches licking lollipops, and the lions prance and strut in front of the library. He asks the dancing ladies and the cowboys on motorcycles about his Grandma, but each time “the moon lifted me away before I got an answer.” Finally, at the great green lady in the harbor, he finds her sitting atop an elephant and she wishes him a happy birthday. The next morning, he peers inside his crystal globe and sees her—on the back of the elephant. Glowing edges and the melted texture of dreamscapes form this New York City, not black and white so much as shadowy and misty grays done in graphite or chalk. Add this to the ever-growing pantheon of evocative picture books that take New York as their theme and as their heart. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 8, 2001

ISBN: 0-385-32792-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Stephen King ; illustrated by Maurice Sendak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.

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Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.

In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9780062644695

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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BECAUSE YOUR DADDY LOVES YOU

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005

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Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)