Review by Booklist Review
Minimal, hand-lettered text combines with evocative gouache-and-colored-pencil images to create this fanciful, thoughtful tale. The setting is a large building in the country, where several boys of a similar age are living. When the boys eat together at a long table, one boy sits alone. The tone changes when a small turtle crawls out of a glass container beside the boy's bed, leaving an invitation behind. With a large, full moon lighting his way, he bicycles across the countryside, where he eventually meets the turtle, now much larger, who takes him to a party attended by several friendly animals. They eat, they sing, and then the night out ends. The boy and the turtle return home, but now that the boy has a story to share, the others draw him into their circle. The cyclical structure of the story, beginning and ending at the table with an adventure in between, makes a gentle reference to Where the Wild Things Are. The illustrations are masterfully composed, delivering an intriguing combination of fantasy and reality.--Whitehurst, Lucinda Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a forbidding boarding school, at a long table under a chandelier, a boy eats alone while the other students chatter. In the dormitory, he lies awake while the others sleep. One night, his pet turtle escapes, leaving an invitation behind. The boy reads it, clambers out the window, and finds his turtle, who has grown large and carries the boy to a party hosted by animals who welcome him with cake and music. He returns at dawn with new confidence and stories to share. Keeping the text minimal ("Come in! Come in! You're just in time"), Miyares (That Neighbor Kid) concentrates on developing quiet visual drama. The rich paintings contain a succession of time-honored fairy tale elements: a gothic school, a hand-lettered map, a secret moonlit journey, and the peaceable kingdom the boy discovers among the creatures who welcome him-including a golden-eyed owl, a bear, a fox, a goose, and a rabbit. Nighttime fantasy adventures often end with an "it was all a dream" moment, but this one lasts until the book is closed. There aren't any lessons or morals-just the pleasure of watching a lonely boy find the friendship he wishes for. Ages 4-8. Agency: Studio Goodwin Sturges. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-An unnamed boy is a loner at boarding school until an invitation leads him to a nighttime celebration and provides him with a remarkable story to tell. Although brief hand-lettered sentences and phrases appear throughout, young readers will have no difficulty following this story through the large illustrations rendered in gouache and colored pencils. An opening scene of boys chatting amiably at a long dining table while the boy eats alone at the far end dramatically reveals his lonely existence. Even in the dark dormitory, the other boys sleep peacefully while the youngster lies awake, his bed bathed in moonlight. When an invitation appears near his turtle bowl, however, he climbs out the window and rides his bike through the woods and to the water's edge. There a large turtle carries him to a cave where a group of animals announce he's "just in time.for tea." After a song and dance, the boy returns to his dorm and regales his dormmates with his adventures. A closing spread depicts the boy now seated at table amid his new friends while his former chair at the end is empty. -VERDICT The beautiful illustrations as well as the message that telling stories is an effective way to make friends make this fantasy a fine storytime choice for all libraries.-Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Boarding school (or perhaps its some kind of residential institution) is lonely for the solitary boy in this magical after-dark adventure. We see only one instance of his separateness from the other boysa dining-room scene in which he eats alonebut its enough to establish his isolation and heartache. One extraordinary night (even the glowing full moon looms larger than life through the window), he spots an invitation leaning against the terrarium that houses his pet turtlewho seems to have left the building. Sneaking out under cover of darkness, the boy bikes through the tall school gates and across a wooded landscape to meet a giant turtle (presumably his pet magically enlarged). Astride his friend, the boy is delivered to a cave, where other animals (a goose, hare, bear, owl, and fox) have gathered for tea and some foot-stomping. Its a boisterous jamboree, complete with the fox on banjo and the hare on harmonica. As the sun rises, the boy sneaks back into the room he shares with his roommates and regales them with the story of his nocturnal exploits. Whether or not it was all a dream is irrelevant; the boys telling is compelling enough. Miyaress atmospheric illustrations at the start of the story display a muted palette, which then blooms into light and color when the boy dines and kicks up his heels with his new friends. The textshort phrases and brief ?dialogueis spare but almost unnecessary, as the illustrations tell us all we need to know about the power of story to bring people together. julie Danielson (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lonely child's dream of a joyous party with animal friends becomes a bridge to friendship with other children.Miyares' lovely gouache-and-pencil compositions set the scene: In the dining hall of an imposing boarding school, a sad child sits apart. In their dorm room, beside a shadowy row of sleeping kids, the wakeful child's face is illuminated by moonlight. Nearby, a pet turtle seems about to escape its fishbowl terrarium. The dream begins with a formal invitationsealing wax and allpropped against the now-empty fishbowl. As a glorious full moon beckons, the child, suddenly clothed in red-flannel shirt and jeans and wearing a backpack, escapes out the window to a waiting bike and helmet. The journey through woods to sea is lushly depicted, and the turtle, now huge, ferries the child to a cave full of welcoming animals. Fox, goose, hare, bear, and owl treat the child to tea, sweets, and music: Each plays an instrument as turtle claps and the child dances. "A night out ends, / as a new day breaks." After being carried back ashore, the child bikes back to school and clambers into bed. A final spread shows the child in pajamas, small-again turtle in hand, regaling five roommates; the final endpapers show them eating together. The protagonist has pale skin and straight, black hair in a cropped cut, and their classmates display a variety of skin tones and hair textures.A luminous allegory that celebrates the necessity of connection. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
