The king of too many things

Laurel Snyder

Book - 2017

When Jasper the little king gets bored, he asks his wizard for a dragon, setting off a chain of events that leads to dire consequences--and a new friend.

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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Snyder Due Dec 12, 2023
Children's Room jE/Snyder Due Aug 13, 2023
Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
Emmaus, Pennsylvania : Rodale Kids [2017]
Language
English
Main Author
Laurel Snyder (author)
Other Authors
Aurore Damant, 1981- (illustrator)
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 26 cm
ISBN
9781623368746
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

King Jasper is bored. He rules his kingdom from his throne of pillows and spends every single afternoon reading, coloring, and snacking with his dog. Jasper asks a handy wizard to help him break the monotony, so the wizard conjures up a bright pink dragon. Unfortunately, it sets everything on fire. Next, the wizard conjures robots to stomp the fires. But they start smashing everything. Next, the wizard creates superheroes to come to the rescue. But they get too much attention. Uh, how about some colorful rainbow kittens?! The enjoyment here, obviously, is in the bigger and bigger mess the wizard causes. That is, until Jasper meets Janey, who helps him clean up the disaster. Each page is filled with Damant's big and often pink- or purple-hued digitally created artwork, which has a zany, retro feel. These work in happy conjunction with Synder's accessible, comical text. Kids who like a little chaos in their fairy tales will enjoy this offering, and maybe learn a lesson about not always demanding more.--Camargo, Rosie Copyright 2017 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In a dry-humored modern fairy tale, Snyder (Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova) explores the concept of less is more as she introduces King Jasper, a young royal who is eager to add some excitement to his kingdom. After Jasper asks the Wizard to bring a dragon into the picture, the creature smashes through a window and starts lighting "tiny fires everywhere." What better to stomp out those fires than robots? Each magically summoned addition to the kingdom brings new problems, even a passel of kittens, meant to pacify local children (they're upset over having to wait to go flying with the new superheroes in town). French illustrator Damant's bright and cheery illustrations bring a Mary Blair-meets-Pixar aesthetic to the pages, which is ideally suited to the way Snyder blends contemporary and classic details; Damant gives the Wizard and King Jasper fittingly regal outfits, but also Converse-style sneakers. Messages about contentedness and good citizenship land with a light touch, including Jasper's eventual understanding that a good king takes responsibility for the messes he makes. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Tina Wexler, ICM. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A pint-sized king's boredom and his easy access to a wizard result in a series of messes. Dark-skinned Jasper's got quite the life: ruling from a throne of pillows, eating ice cream every afternoon, reading and coloring. But one day he wants something more. His solution is to ask the white wizard for a dragonexcitement personified. The wizard's not too sure, but since Jasper is the king, "poof!" Excitement comes with a trail of fires it leaves in its wake. The robots the wizard calls forth to stamp out the fires only wreak more havoc, and the superheroes summoned to rein in the robots raise jealousy among the kingdom's kids when they see Jasper being flown about. An army of kittens is surely the answer. They do stop the kids' wailing but cause other problems, especially with Janey, a white girl with allergies. She does help Jasper realize, though, that perhaps the something more he was searching for was a friend, though Snyder never makes this message overt; kids may miss it, especially since they will be wondering why a king with a wizard is cleaning up the mess by hand. Damant's illustrations portray a diverse cast with wide eyes that lack eyelids, giving the people a manic look, and the kittens will have adults imagining candy-colored Felix the Cats. Skip this tale of wish fulfilment gone wrong. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.