Review by New York Times Review
It must be something about their steady, gentle hugeness: Elephants are especially beloved by the smallest children. The versatile, ever-perceptive Henkes has created a beguiling book of pastel-colored pachyderms, outlined in thick, pleasingly rough black lines. They look lively, yet extremely squeezable, as they march across the pages. He also sneaks in several toddler-ready concepts. The happy creatures demonstrate counting, a few apropos opposites like "over" and "under," a dash of wondrous nighttime magic in the form of a shower of stars, and then - as always, parents will bless his name - the joy of settling down serenely to sleep after a full day. 40 pp. Greenwillow. $18.99. Ages 2 to 5. THE VISITOR Written and illustrated by Antje Damm. Translated by Sally-Ann Spencer. A shut-in, neatnik woman named Elise lives alone and shuns company, until "something unbelievable" happens - a paper plane flies in her window, followed by a boy knocking at her door. Warm connection ensues. What makes it striking is Damm's nifty, expressive art, photographs of dioramas and cutout painted figures. Dressed in red and yellow, the boy, Emil, brings color to Elise's gray world. She makes her own paper plane, and the dazzling last page needs no words: We see inside her now colorful home, but she's not there. 32 pp. Gecko. $17.99. Ages 3 to 5. A VERY LATE STORY Written and illustrated by Marianna Coppo Meta picture books, in which characters know (or find out) they're in a book, can be overbearing, but this one brings a light, clever touch to the conceit. Five small, silly, delicately drawn animals wander across blank pages, unsure why they're there. Soon they realize they must wait for the story to arrive - how irritating. As they wait, a tree grows, adding new characters and new delights to the sea of white. By the time a stork brings the story, they realize they've got their own already, creating a head-spinning yet easygoing lesson in finding your own voice, and your own fun. 48 pp. Flying Eye. $17.95. Ages 3 to 7. NIGHT JOB By Karen Hesse. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. The premise is simple - a boy recounts how he goes with Dad on Friday nights to his job cleaning a school - but Hesse, a Newbery Medal winner, and Karas create an atmosphere of hushed fascination as we follow the pair through the long night. They leave home on a motorcycle; Dad opens the school door with a ring of keys "as big as the rising moon." Karas's dusky paneled art gives a feel of enchantment and adventure as the boy sweeps floors, shoots hoops, reads and falls asleep while Dad finishes working. He's added an extraordinary dignity and tenderness to this picture of working-parent reality and a loving, physically close father-son bond. 32 pp. Candlewick. $16.99. Ages 4 to 8. GROW UF> DAVID! Written and illustrated by David Shannon With its likably mischievous hero who can't slow down, Shannon's Caldecott Honor-winning "No, David!" is 20 years old. This welcome fifth David book is a portrait of our hero as a pesky younger brother, his M.O. captured as always in Shannon's wavery, high-energy art. A fresh sibling complaint is on every spread ("Thanks a lot, David!," "Give it back, David!"), accompanied by a colorful littlekid's-eye view of the damage done. The final rapprochement is surprisingly moving: Brothers are in it for the long haul, and even whirlwind David will, little by little, grow up. 32 pp. Blue Sky Press. $17.99. Ages 3 to 7. THE PATCHWORK BIKE By Maxine Beneba Clarke. Illustrated byVan Thanh Rudd. The children in this exuberant book from an Australian writer and artist live in a "mud for walls" house on the edge of the "no-go desert," and they've made an excellent bike out of random parts. Clarke's poetically compressed language hurtles joyfully along, while Rudd's illustrations, made on cardboard boxes with spirited swaths of paint, burst with irrepressible life. Dreaming and building, we see, go hand in hand no matter where you live. 40 pp. Candlewick. $15.99. Ages 4 to 8. P IS FOR PTERODACTYL: THE WORST ALPHABET BOOK EVER By Raj Haidar and Chris Carpenter. Illustrated by Maria Beddia. You can curse the English language for its insane spelling rules (or lack thereof), or you can delight in it, as this raucous trip through the odd corners of our alphabet does. Haidar - better known as the rapper Lushlife - and Carpenter celebrate "Heir" and "Tsunami," adding brainteasers like "R is not for Are' " for good measure. Beddia's art adds a cartoony touch. 40 pp. Sourcebooks. $17.99. Ages 7 to 12. MY BEIJING: FOUR STORIES OF EVERYDAY WONDER Written and illustrated by Nie Jun. Translated by Edward Gauvin. This delectable graphic story collection gives a taste of the everyday life of kids in China, kicked up with a clever time-travel element. A girl named Yu'er, who has a disability that limits her walking, and the grandfather who cares for her live simply, but their days are filled with both resourcefulness and amazement. The stories move gracefully between reality and fantasy, a bit like Miyazaki movies, but sweeter. 128 pp. Graphic Universe. $17.99. Ages 7 to 12. MARIA RUSSO is the children's books editor of the Book Review.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 31, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Kids make their own fun wherever they are, and Clarke's The Patchwork Bike is an ode to this universal truth of childhood. In an unnamed village on the edge of a "no-go desert," a little girl with beautiful cornrows confides in readers about how she and her rowdy brothers spend their time sliding, jumping, and climbing under the "stretching-out sky." But the best thing is their bike, a cobbled-together creation of found parts, like a dented car seat, tin-can handles, and a bark license plate that keeps falling off. Clarke's exuberant poetic text combines simple sentences with evocative onomatopoeia. The shicketty-shakes and winketty-wonks amplify the fun of the language and make the book a joy to read aloud. This is street-artist Rudd's first picture book, and his bold, strong illustrations brilliantly extend the sense of motion, with wide rippling streaks of thick paint flowing across the pages. On recycled cardboard with richly hued acrylics and visible brushstrokes, Rudd's striking illustrations are a joyful celebration of play and children's imaginations overriding poverty or circumstances. Kids will love picking out the familiar objects used in the bike, and parents will sympathize with the "fed-up mum" coping with all that energy. Fascinating notes from the Australian author and illustrator are included.--Lynn Rutan Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Under a "stretching-out sky at the edge of the no-go desert," a dark brown child with mirrored sunglasses gives readers a tour of a desert village, from "our mud-for-walls home" to "the sand hill we built to slide down." But the best thing? Soaring out into the sand on the bike the kids have created from cans, discarded wood, and "a bell that used to be Mum's milk pot." In her picture book debut, Clarke's lines sing with sound and rhythm, evoking the "shicketty shake" sound of the bike on sand hills. Street artist Rudd's textured paint-and-cardboard collages create a strong sense of a place (the blaze and shadow of the desert) and the people who live there: the narrator's "fed-up mum" in a hijab and robe, and the "crazy brothers" pictured bouncing on a police car, who write "BLM" on the bike's license plate-a reference to Black Lives Matter, Rudd notes in an afterword. In an author's note, Clarke writes about her experiences with poverty: "What these times taught me was how to make something out of nothing." Without minimizing the clear references to economic and racial struggle, the words and images in this snapshot story pulse with resourceful ingenuity, joyful exuberance, and layered meanings. Ages 6-9. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-In this Australian import, three siblings who live in a remote village "at the edge of the no-go desert" in a "mud-for-walls home," make do with what they have to entertain themselves. They like to run, jump, and climb, but their pride and joy is their bike, which they cobbled together out of spare parts and junk. The handlebars are made of branches, and the wood-cut wheels go "winketty wonk" as they ride, a nice onomatopoetic touch. The story by itself is superb, but the artwork elevates it further. Rudd's street art approach is raw yet refined as nearly every brushstroke is visible on the repurposed cardboard backgrounds. Much like Javaka Steptoe's Radiant Child or Jane Yolen's What To Do with a Box, the format shows the incredible creativity of young minds combined with the constraints of poverty. Rudd not only perfectly matches the tone culturally but also works in a few nods to the Black Lives Matter movement, which he explains in his artist's note. VERDICT An excellent story and conversation starter.-Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI © 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
A child in an unnamed village where we live inside our mud-for-walls home describes the diversions of daily life: whooping and shrieking and laughing on the sand hill, exploring the desert, and playing atop an abandoned police car accompanied by my crazy brothers, annoying their fed-up mum (shown in what looks like a white abayah), and, best of all, zooming about on their patchwork bike built of scrap. Clarkes spare, mellifluous language dances across the pages, full of vivid imagery and hyphenated turns of poetry (out in the no-go desert, under the stretching-out sky), all of it hand-lettered on Rudds rough, tactile paintings. Working in heavy acrylic paint on recycled cardboard marked by residual packing instructions, trademarks, and barcodes, Rudd re-makes the commonplace paper into the deserts ubiquitous brown; long, dark shadows of the blocky, heavily outlined figures imply a searing sun. These illustration choices reflect the books very themeexposing the harsh reality of life that some people face while acknowledging the resilience that comes from homemade joy. Appended authors and illustrators notes tell personal stories about each ones inspirations. thom barthelmess (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 daring girl in a desert village enjoys riding her brother's bike made of recycled materials in this unusual picture book by Clarke and political artist Rudd, an Australian import. A young girl with dark skin, cornrows, and shiny sunglasses, wearing shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt, introduces readers to "the village where we live inside our mud-for-walls home," her "crazy brothers" who dance atop a police car, and her "fed-up mum," who looks elegant in a white hijab and dress. The narrator shows readers the sand hill and the "big Fiori tree" where they play boisterously. "But the best thing of all in our village is me and my brothers' bike." The bike's pieces are composed of a bucket seat, tin-can handlebars, wood-cut wheels, and other spare parts; the flag is a flour sack, and the bell is Mum's milk pot. The license platea piece of barkhas "BLM" painted on it, a political statement that echoes an earlier image of the narrator's brothers playing atop a junked police car. It's a rugged ride over sand hills and fields and straight through the home (which perhaps explains why Mum is so fed up), and Rudd's urban artwork is a fitting way to show it. Over a cardboard background, streaks of paint define the people, objects, and movements that make up the girl's world. The kids in motion on their bike are rendered in an artful smear that evokes speed. The dark, bright, and desert hues create a blazing-hot world readers can almost step right into.Showcasing the fun to be had in a spare world, this book is just what many of us need right now. (author's note, illustrator's note) (Picture book. 3-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
