“I need to paint and draw every day,” explains a round-headed kid with pencil-hatched hair in this sweet, carefully composed...
Boy and dog share the utter pleasure of creating art.
“I need to paint and draw every day,” explains a round-headed kid with pencil-hatched hair in this sweet, carefully composed paean to creativity. When he paints a gray building, Barroux’s composition mimics that shape in the foreground as a table spotlighting art supplies. Swaths of textured paint and pencil lines feature throughout. Companion Louie, a white dog with a long body, long muzzle and tiny legs, insists upon being depicted in his owner’s work. After the boy leaves for school, Louie explodes from art subject to artist. In two consecutive full-bleed spreads, Louie dashes back and forth, racing through paint and leaving footprints, squeezing paint tubes and holding brushes in his mouth. He’s so busy that he appears four times on each exuberant spread, covered in splotches, streaking paint everywhere. Returning home, the boy stands atop a beige staircase and peers towards a black wall, where the studio door is propped open by a (now multi-hued) dog. The mostly unseen him background inside the studio glows with color. Louie’s chef-d'œuvre evokes Cézanne (explained in an author’s note). Only a loose close-up of the Cézanne homage actually appears, but its freely casual vibe combines with the childlike skill level of the boy’s own paintings to prevent readers from feeling insecure in their own attempts. This is about enthusiastic process, not product.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60905-059-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way.
All the typical worries and excuses kids have about school are filtered through Willems’ hysterical, bus-loving Pigeon.
Told mostly in speech balloons, the bird’s monologue will have kids (and their caregivers) in stitches at Pigeon’s excuses. From already knowing everything (except whatever question readers choose to provide in response to “Go ahead—ask me a question. / Any question!”) to fearing learning too much (“My head might pop off”), Pigeon’s imagination has run wild. Readers familiar with Pigeon will recognize the muted, matte backgrounds that show off the bird’s shenanigans so well. As in previous outings, Willems varies the size of the pigeon on the page to help communicate emotion, the bird teeny small on the double-page spread that illustrates the confession that “I’m… / scared.” And Pigeon’s eight-box rant about all the perils of school (“The unknown stresses me out, dude”) is marvelously followed by the realization (complete with lightbulb thought bubble) that school is the place for students to practice, with experts, all those skills they don’t yet have. But it is the ending that is so Willems, so Pigeon, and so perfect. Pigeon’s last question is “Well, HOW am I supposed to get there, anyway!?!” Readers will readily guess both the answer and Pigeon’s reaction.
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-04645-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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