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ERNIE’S WISH TRAIL

Name: ERNIE’S WISH TRAIL
Author: Maia Orion
ISBN: 978-0-9969264-0-9

by Maia Orion illustrated by Lauren Gallegos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2016

Stilted but enchantingly illustrated.

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A charming pig wishes to be every animal but himself in this rhyming board book from debut author Orion and veteran illustrator Gallegos (The Santa Thief, 2017).

One summer morning, Ernie the pig is distracted from his mud puddle by a beautiful butterfly. He asks, quite politely, if she would teach him how to fly, but she calls him silly and tells him to “rejoice in the little things.” Ernie mopes down to the water where he sees fish swimming. He asks them to teach him how to swim and is similarly rebuffed. When he sees two squirrels climbing, he doesn’t even bother to ask them; he just wishes he could play in the trees like they do. But happily, when his fellow pigs call him back to the mud puddle, he joins in the fun. The theme of being happy with your own gifts is reminiscent of Leo Lionni’s classic Fish Is Fish, and readers will chuckle at Ernie’s imagined pictures of a pig with butterfly wings, a fish tail, and a squirrel body, delightfully conjured by Gallegos. Many of the rhyming couplets, however, are a stretch: flutter/flower, boy/cry, dream/swim, piggy/tizzy, etc. Young readers drawn to the pictures and old enough to read independently may not be bothered, but children learning how to rhyme may find these reaches off-putting. The book also offers an augmented reality app (not reviewed) to enhance Gallegos’s colorful illustrations.

Stilted but enchantingly illustrated.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-9969264-0-9

Page Count: 12

Publisher: Augpix Ventures LLC

Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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SPOOKY POOKIE

by Sandra Boynton ; illustrated by Sandra Boynton ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015

A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.

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One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.

It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.

A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)