TOUGH COOKIE
Author: Kate Louise
Illustrator: Grace Sandford
Review Issue Date: September 15, 2015
Online Publish Date: August 26, 2015
Publisher:Sky Pony Press
Pages: 32
Price ( Hardcover ): $16.99
Publication Date: November 3, 2015
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-63450-197-2
Category: Picture Books
Kirkus Review:
An attitudinally challenged gingerbread man gets a lesson in manners. What do you call a gingerbread man if he’s missing the main ingredient: ginger? If you are reading this tale, you might call him naughty. Feeling as though he doesn’t belong makes this cookie act out in all sorts of ways, from squirting frosting on the walls and eating the candy decorations to spilling the sprinkles. Needless to say, the baker is not pleased, and he orders him to leave. But perhaps the gingerbread man can change his ways? “The baker teaches the gingerbread man that niceness comes from him, not from whether he has the right ingredients. ‘Being kind makes others feel good and will make you happy too,’ the baker says.” Now, instead of causing trouble, the gingerbread man helps the baker create his treats, making sure that the most important ingredient is never forgotten. Sandford’s illustrations, done from the cookies’ perspectives, help to leaven the story’s earnestness. They portray the gingerbread cookies with lots of personality and individuality. The titular tough cookie starts off with a dark cloud over his head, moving from gleeful destruction to sorrow to helpfulness and, ultimately, belonging. A didactic take on the traditional tale. (Picture book. 4-7)
* THE ONLY CHILD
Author: Guojing
Illustrator: Guojing
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Publication Date: December 1, 2015
ISBN ( Library Ed ): 978-0-553-49705-2
ISBN ( e-book ): 978-0-553-49706-9
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-0-553-49704-5
Kirkus Review:
Left alone when her mother leaves for work, a child amuses herself with television, dolls, and a toy deer before boarding a bus for her grandmother’s house. The ensuing experience, in which she falls asleep, misses her stop, and runs scared into the woods, is pulled directly from the author’s childhood in China. In this wordless, 105-page graphic novel, her constantly-in-motion protagonist is rescued by a mysterious stag that leads her up a ladder of clouds into a puffy paradise. The animal is a perfect playmate. Humorous close-ups reveal a hands-on exploration of the animal’s muzzle, toothy smiles, and affectionate nuzzling before the afternoon’s excitement. Guojing’s telling is skillfully paced. Early on, a sequence of 12, nearly square panels on a page conveys the child’s sense of confinement, loneliness, and boredom. Varying in size and shape, digitally manipulated graphite compositions create a soft, quiet atmosphere within which a gamut of effects are achieved: brilliant, snowy light, the etched faces of shivering street vendors, nuanced cloudscapes, and the pure black of a whale’s interior after the duo and a new friend are swallowed, Jonah-style. Majestic settings, tender interactions, and pure silliness lead readers to pore closely over these images, pulled along by shifting perspectives, ethereal beauty, and delight in the joy born of friendship. Rare is the book containing great emotional depth that truly resonates across a span of ages: this is one such. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5 & up)
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