A discordant, one-note story that can’t seem to find its funny bone.
A pet dog named Balthazar, unaware that a tasty bone sits underneath the pillow it rests upon, dreams of bones and wakes with a mission: “Gonna getcha bone.”
The dog looks outdoors and indoors, wreaking havoc inside the elegant home. Despite reminders to itself to “keep calm,” the dog panics, leaving a mess in its wake and even flooding the house after frantically searching in the bathroom. Weary from the frenzied search, Balthazar manages to make it across the now-destroyed interior of the home back to the bed to happily reunite with the bone that was there all along. The way in which the humans will react to the extended destruction is left to the imaginations of readers. The cutesy way in which Balthazar speaks (“Bone? must be home-home” and “dear Bone, it really you!”) becomes tiresome, and exceedingly busy and cluttered spreads may occasionally make it difficult for readers to follow the action, though they do capture Balthazar’s frenzy. Some of the renderings of Balthazar are jarring, even alarming. In one illustration, the dog struggles to stay afloat in the flooding bathroom; its right eye is distorted and protruding, its left eye brown and bruised-looking, its facial features twisted, and its teeth bared on only the right side of its face (Batman’s Two-Face has nothing on Balthazar).
A discordant, one-note story that can’t seem to find its funny bone. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64567-061-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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