Cave Paintings

September 15, 2020
Chair just wants "to be in on the game." Every night before bed, Vivi, a brown-skinned girl with puffy pigtails, and Monkey, a child-sized stuffed animal, play a game. Monkey hides in plain sight under a blanket, Vivi pretends to look everywhere for Monkey, Vivi questions the witnesses: Chair, Plant, Kettle, and Cat. Chair is the only witness who cares about the game. But the role of witness is not enough for Chair. Chair loves Vivi and wants to be more involved. But night after night, Monkey comes out of hiding, and the pair leaves Chair sleepless and jealous. One night, Chair decides that if Monkey needed a bath--say, if some juice were spilled on Monkey--then Chair could take Monkey's place. But the plan backfires. When Monkey doesn't turn up, Vivi only looks harder for Monkey and becomes upset with Chair when Vivi realizes Chair had a hand in the disappearance. But all ends well when Vivi comes to understand Chair's intentions. Vivi is easily seen as a beloved adult, with Chair as a misunderstood, childlike character who just wants some attention, making this story a clever representation of all-too-real feelings of the young. Bright, expressive illustrations add to the chuckleworthy drama. There are some off notes: Plant's falling "in love" with Cat is an odd touch for this age group, and the Monkey-as-peer is rather unsettling both conceptually and visually. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.8-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 71.8% of actual size.) Cute concept; readers' mileage may vary. (Picture book. 3-6)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 28, 2020
Tolstikova (Violet and the Woof) writes a closely observed account of someone longing to be noticed. Vivi is a tan-skinned girl who engages in nightly sessions of hide-and-seek with her stuffed yellow monkey. In Tolstikova’s world, inanimate domestic objects can talk—they’re all portrayed in bright, loose art—and the child’s playful quizzing while sporting a deerstalker cap is part of her hide-and-seek ritual: “Have you seen Monkey?” she asks Cat, Chair, Kettle, and Plant. One night bright red Chair, longing to be the object Vivi hunts for, intentionally spills a drink all over Monkey, who has to be laundered: “Maybe tonight Vivi will look for ME!” Chair thinks, hopes high. Though Vivi is temporarily fooled, she becomes outraged when she uncovers the ruse. Readers will feel Chair’s pain as Monkey and Vivi retreat together (“I have so much to tell you,” Vivi croons exclusively). In the end, Vivi has a change of heart, but the story’s real draw is the clash between Tolstikova’s cheery, naïf-style artwork and her mordant portrait of an uncertain soul. Ages 3–7. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House.

October 16, 2020

Gr 1-3-In a future in which space travel is the normal way to get around the universe, a young boy embarks on a trip to visit his grandmother on Earth. Waiting at the space port to board while surrounded by all manner of alien creatures, our protagonist's travel anxiety will be familiar to any child who has traveled alone or set off on a new adventure. The variety of aliens (including tentacled beasts with odd-numbered eyeballs, anthropomorphic animals, and spooky humanoids) are fascinating, and worthy of exploration. Amazed at the infinite breadth of space, the boy arrives at his beloved grandmother's Earth, which is part technological wonder as travelers disembark the spacecraft on hoverboards with futuristic architecture in the background, part natural paradise filled with waterfalls and wildlife ripe for exploration and adventure. On one of their adventures, the boy and his grandmother enter a stalactite-filled cave, discovering paleolithic-style art from long ago. The boy contemplates the shadow of his own hand over an ancient imprint, leaving the strong impression that all are connected regardless of the passage of eons or distance across the galaxy. Longtime collaborators Buitrago and Yockteng, like Anthony Browne, are masters at creating seemingly simple tales which, upon closer consideration, conceal sophisticated themes and emotions. This book is no exception, demonstrating that there is both joy to be found in the mundane and wonder to be found in the infinite expanse of the universe. VERDICT A work at once both limitless and grounded, the imaginative illustrations will be especially appealing to lovers of science fiction and fantasy.-Alyssa Annico, Youngstown State Univ., OH

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 2, 2020
The pale-skinned child who narrates this story by previous collaborators Buitrago and Yockteng (Two White Rabbits) isn’t fazed by the trans-galactic spaceship trip he takes in these pages; he does it all the time, “always traveling alone.” At his destination planet, which readers will recognize as Earth, a small saucer flies him straight into the arms of his grandmother. Every spread juxtaposes natural and futuristic elements: in one, the boy and grandmother travel in a glass-domed vehicle to a preserve-like area, where she leads him into a cave full of paintings. A print of a human hand and images of animals impress him, and so does the grandmother’s present of a family heirloom, a box of colored pencils—“They were my grandfather’s, and before that, his grandfather’s.” Making marks on paper has power that eons can’t diminish; en route home, even the four-eyed passenger in the seat behind the protagonist is riveted by his sketching. Yockteng juggles different styles of artwork with ease—magisterial views of whirling galaxies, pen-and-ink-style drawings of the boy’s time with his grandmother, the cave art itself, and childlike sketches on the new pad all offer scope for the imagination. Ages 4–7.

January 1, 2021
Buitrago and Yockteng (Walk with Me, rev. 5/17; On the Other Side of the Garden, rev. 7/18) turn to full-blown science fiction in this story of a young traveler's journey through outer space to visit his beloved grandmother on a futuristic Earth. The spare first-person text comprises pensive statements ("it's worth it to cross one universe to explore another"), which are regularly divvied up across several pages -- creating meaningful reveals with every page-turn while also foregrounding Yockteng's otherworldly illustrations. Rendered digitally (while still retaining an organic quality), scenes of highly advanced spacecraft, polychromatic galaxies, and alien lifeforms of every size, color, and shape fill each double-page spread. The surprising destination of the boy and the book is reached in an enlightening encounter with what seem to be the cave paintings of southern France. Inspired by the ancient art, as well as a recent gift of his great-great-grandfather's colored pencils, on the way home the child begins to draw what he sees outside the spaceship window -- namely, infinity. An ode to the endless possibilities of art, a celebration of open borders, and a reverence for the contributions of our collective ancestors.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from January 1, 2021
Buitrago and Yockteng (Walk with Me, rev. 5/17; On the Other Side of the Garden, rev. 7/18) turn to full-blown science fiction in this story of a young traveler's journey through outer space to visit his beloved grandmother on a futuristic Earth. The spare first-person text comprises pensive statements ("it's worth it to cross one universe to explore another"), which are regularly divvied up across several pages -- creating meaningful reveals with every page-turn while also foregrounding Yockteng's otherworldly illustrations. Rendered digitally (while still retaining an organic quality), scenes of highly advanced spacecraft, polychromatic galaxies, and alien lifeforms of every size, color, and shape fill each double-page spread. The surprising destination of the boy and the book is reached in an enlightening encounter with what seem to be the cave paintings of southern France. Inspired by the ancient art, as well as a recent gift of his great-great-grandfather's colored pencils, on the way home the child begins to draw what he sees outside the spaceship window -- namely, infinity. An ode to the endless possibilities of art, a celebration of open borders, and a reverence for the contributions of our collective ancestors. Patrick Gall

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
Buitrago and Yockteng (Walk with Me, rev. 5/17; On the Other Side of the Garden, rev. 7/18) turn to full-blown science fiction in this story of a young traveler's journey through outer space to visit his beloved grandmother on a futuristic Earth. The spare first-person text comprises pensive statements ("it's worth it to cross one universe to explore another"), which are regularly divvied up across several pages -- creating meaningful reveals with every page-turn while also foregrounding Yockteng's otherworldly illustrations. Rendered digitally (while still retaining an organic quality), scenes of highly advanced spacecraft, polychromatic galaxies, and alien lifeforms of every size, color, and shape fill each double-page spread. The surprising destination of the boy and the book is reached in an enlightening encounter with what seem to be the cave paintings of southern France. Inspired by the ancient art, as well as a recent gift of his great-great-grandfather's colored pencils, on the way home the child begins to draw what he sees outside the spaceship window -- namely, infinity. An ode to the endless possibilities of art, a celebration of open borders, and a reverence for the contributions of our collective ancestors. Patrick Gall

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

October 23, 2020

K-Gr 2-In Vivi's room, a houseplant is in love with a cat, her stuffed monkey can walk and talk, and her chair feels left out of all the fun. Every day Vivi and Monkey play hide and seek. Monkey hides, and Vivi, a brown-skinned girl with natural hair, seeks. When Chair wants to hide, he sabotages the game by spilling a drink on Monkey to send him to the washing machine. Vivi is initially upset when she discovers Chair's deception, but after a moment's thought, she forgives Chair and decides to let him play. This book driven by a clear sense of childlike logic; in the brief scene where an adult appears, it's simply a black and white outline, a silhouette existing only peripherally in the child's imagination. Further, the extent of each household item's anthropomorphism varies. For instance, Monkey can move around the room, independently play games, and talk. Chair is not as ambulatory. The watercolor illustrations strike the perfect balance of being naive without seeming amateurish. The color scheme is vibrant and the character's faces-even the nonhuman ones-are expressive. VERDICT Some readers may not like that Chair's bad behavior is rewarded, but others may see it as a story of forgiveness; a worthwhile purchase, not just for the unique, nuanced artwork.-Chance Lee Joyner, Haverhill P.L., MA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2020
A trip to grandmother's launches light-years beyond the routine sort, as a human child travels from deep space to Earth. The light-skinned, redheaded narrator journeys alone as flight attendants supply snacks to diverse, interspecies passengers. The kid muses, "Sometimes they ask me, 'Why are you always going to the farthest planet?' "The response comes after the traveler hurtles through the solar system, lands, and levitates up to the platform where a welcoming grandmother waits: "Because it's worth it / to cross one universe / to explore another." Indeed, child and grandmother enter an egg-shaped, clear-domed orb and fly over a teeming savanna and a towering waterfall before disembarking, donning headlamps, and entering a cave. Inside, the pair marvel at a human handprint and ancient paintings of animals including horses, bison, and horned rhinoceroses. Yockteng's skilled, vigorously shaded pictures suggest references to images found in Lascaux and Chauvet Cave in France. As the holiday winds down, grandmother gives the protagonist some colored pencils that had belonged to grandfather generations back. (She appears to chuckle over a nude portrait of her younger self.) The pencils "were good for making marks on paper. She gave me that too." The child draws during the return trip, documenting the visit and sights along the journey home. "Because what I could see was infinity." (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.8-by-19.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 85% of actual size.) Celebrated collaborators deliver another thoughtful delight, revealing how "making marks" links us across time and space. (Picture book. 5-9)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.