Day: November 12, 2014

Review: Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

| Tasha

phoebe and her unicorn

Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

When Phoebe skipped a rock (four times!) across a pond, she accidentally hit a unicorn in the nose, distracting the unicorn from gazing at her amazing reflection.  The unicorn was bound to offer Phoebe a wish and though Phoebe tried to wish for more wishes and things like that, she wasn’t allowed to.  So Phoebe wished that the unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, be her best friend.  The two become inseparable, much to Heavenly Nostrils’ dismay at first.  Soon they truly became the best of friends, dealing with bullies in unexpected ways, having slumber parties, and playing games together. 

This friendship between a girl and a unicorn is filled with great humor, including lots of biting sarcasm which helps offset the cuteness factor.  It is not the traditional unicorn and girl relationship either, both of them have unique personalities and sometimes they just don’t get along.  It’s those moments of reality that keeps the relationship honest and makes this a graphic novel to celebrate.

Simpson’s illustrations have strong ties to Calvin & Hobbes.  Readers will immediately find themselves right at home in the world she creates, one where unicorns are real but sheltered by a Shield of Boringness that keeps others from realizing how special the unicorn is.  These plot devices are brilliant and funny.

I brought this book home and my 17 year old immediately rejoiced since she reads the comic online.  So you will have fans in your library for this book already.  Get it on the shelves for kids and into the hands of adults who will also enjoy it immensely.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Fox’s Garden by Princesse Camcam

| Tasha

foxs garden

Fox’s Garden by Princesse Camcam

Gorgeously illustrated, this wordless picture book invites readers into a snowy world.  A fox finds her way into a village, warm lit against the cold snow that is falling.  She is shooed away by several people but discovers an open greenhouse.  A little boy sees her enter and brings her a basket of food.  Now there is a fox with four baby foxes nursing.  Soon after, the mother fox leads her kits to the boy’s room where they plant flowers from the greenhouse into his rug which he discovers in the morning.  The five foxes disappear back into the woods.

Done in cut-paper illustrations, the images have a beautiful 3-D quality to them.  You want to stroke the page and think that you will be able to lift flaps, so strong are the images. Against the white and gray snow and woods, the characters pop.  The fox gloriously orange in the snow and the little boy wearing red. 

Camcam lights her paper work beautifully as well, almost as if it were a stage.  She conveys the welcoming warmth of the light in the village, the yellow of the windows lit against the storm.  More subtly, she plays with shadows and underlighting in specific scenes, showing the cold and the night clearly.

This is a haunting picture book, done with an immense delicacy and skill.  Simply beautiful.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Enchanted Lion Books.