Spellbinding if flawed.
A boy and a lion go on a journey to conquer fear.
In the bedroom, a shadow makes a menacing sound. “Richard hug[s] his Lionheart,” a small stuffed lion with a tidy yarn mane and a tag (emphasizing its toyness). But danger threatens, so Richard takes off. Clutching his Lionheart, he runs across a stone bridge, past a town, and into a field. “All around him the grass grew thick, and turned into sticks, and the sticks grew tall, and turned into trees.” That sequence pays loving homage to Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, as do Richard’s pajamas-cum–lion-suit, with tail and leonine hood. Richard’s journey is vast: there are animals of all sorts, toadstools, a magical jungle, tall pointed rocks, a waterfall, and a lost city. It looks like Chichén Itzá, unfortunately relying on the trope of including an indigenous creation to enrich a white child’s adventure. Collingridge’s magnificent paintings employ realism, abstraction, and shifting scale. Grand landscapes harmonize with small, supplementary black-and-white drawings. With posture, texture, and sumptuous, glowing colors, Collingridge maintains a delicate balance between high drama and comfort, risk and safety. Richard loses his Lionheart, then meets him along the way as a full-grown, fully alive lion—enormous and powerful but only a companion and ally rather than savior—when they finally, unforgettably confront the monster.
Spellbinding if flawed. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-83321-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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