WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 63Review_CHILDREN’S
YAWNS ARE COMING!” Sure enough,
hundreds of little blue, smiling creatures—
the Yawns—soon swarm the friends, who
“ran. And we climbed. And we sneaked.
And we hid” before being caught out. The
two begin to yawn, mouths wide open
despite their protestations, when “SPLAP!”
a glassy-eyed Doze lands on Noodles’s head.
Fluttering Snores arrive just behind it, and
a calming, blanketlike Sleepie wraps the
bear-suited boy up warm and safe. Amid
fun-filled antics in Eliopoulos’s signature
style, his use of soothing cool colors plays
out against ample white space, cleverly
centering exaggerated yawns and bleary
eyes that are all too easy to mimic, making
for a surprisingly soporofic read. Ages 4–8.
(Apr.)
Gnome
Fred Blunt. Andersen Press USA, $17.99
(32p) ISBN 978-1-5415-9624-5
Blunt (Santa Claus vs. the Easter Bunny)
gives garden gnomes a lesson-laden origin
story in this tale. With a permanent
frown, Mr. Gnome has an obstinate
attachment to the word no. “Say hello to
the readers, Mr. Gnome,” the narrator
requests. “No,” says Mr. Gnome, arms
crossed in front of his belly. Asked if the
narrator and readers can join his fishing
trip, the white-bearded Mr. Gnome
emerges from his mushroom home with a
“NO!” Unsurprisingly, “NO” is also Mr.
Gnome’s response to a request for help
from a hedgehog with an apple lodged in
his quills. When a witch appears and
requests that Mr. Gnome stop fishing in
her pond (to be fair, the sign says “no
fishing”), it’s clear things won’t turn out
well, and when the witch then turns Mr.
Gnome to stone for being rude, it seems
like a just punishment. But the moral
twists when the narrator pleads for Mr.
Gnome to be changed back and the witch,
apparently an entrepreneur, refuses—
turns out she’s in the stone garden gnome
business. With a coldhearted capitalist
for a witch, an irritatingly insistent nar-
rator, and a curmudgeonly Gnome, Blunt
presents an ensemble of characters that are
each dislikable in their own way, and yet
his scenes overall feel sunny and straight-
forward; it’s hard to know what kids will
take away from this tale’s mixed message.
Ages 4–9. (Apr.)
What a Masterpiece!
Riccardo Guasco. Eerdmans, $17.99 (32p)
ISBN 978-0-8028-5539-8
This wordless fantasy stars a boy who
travels through one famous art and design
masterpiece after another. For those in
the know, the fun comes from being able
to identify the works of art as the boy
encounters them, from the time he wakes
up in a familiar-looking bedroom (hint:
it’s in Arles) to the moment he puts his
hands to his
mouth in a
horrified scream.
Silkscreen-like
artwork unifies
disparate works
with a palette
of warm shades;
sometimes a single spread visually quotes
several iconic pieces. Guasco shows the
boy waking to a selection of melted alarm
clocks, then trailing into the bathroom
followed by a tall, thin shadow shaped like
a Giacometti sculpture. Botticelli,
Mondrian, and even Banksy make
appearances (so do design objects from
Starck and Bialetti) as the child journeys
through the art to leave his mark on a
giant collaborative sculpture. Because the
narrative of this composite introduction to
Western art is so simple—the boy walks
from left to right—small children can leaf
through the pages with enjoyment even if
they can’t identify the references. And a
key in the back provides answers for the
perplexed or uninitiated. Ages 5–9. (Apr.)Wherever I Go
Mary Wagley Copp, illus. by Munir D.
Mohammed. Atheneum, $17.99 (32p)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1919-3
Debut author Copp, who has worked in
refugee resettlement, creates a hero whose
life in an Ethiopian refugee camp is the only
one she’s ever known. “I am Queen Abia
of the Shimelba Camp,” she announces.
Artist Mohammed, making his picture
book debut, paints the brown-skinned
girl in a vibrant blue dress that stands out
against the camp’s dry red dust. She con-
tributes to daily life with panache: “Even
though I’m a queen, I still have to pump
water. I just sing louder than everyone else.”
Mohammed’s documentary-style paintings
sweep across the landscape and close in
on interior scenes with equal care. Hisportraits of Abia and her family have classic,
sculptural dimensions. At the time of the
full moon, Mama retells the story of their
escape: “Mama says gunfire crackled all
night, but I just cooed at the moon.” Papa
looks to the future, saying that they’ll find
a new home, a forever home. Queen Abia
is wary; in the end, though, Mohammed
shows her sitting in an airplane, flying
away from the rows of tents with a story
of her own to tell—a story of resilience
and strength. Ages 6–9. Author’s agent:
Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary.
Illustrator’s agent: Lara Perkins, Andrea
Brown Literary. (Apr.)My Mastodon
Barbara Lowell, illus. by Antonio Marinoni.
Creative Editions, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-
56846-327-8
Charles Willson Peale was an impor-
tant 18th-century portraitist and also
the proprietor of America’s first natural
history museum, in Philadelphia. Lowell
(Sparky & Spike) imagines a voice for
Peale’s young daughter Sybilla, who helps
her father and brothers as they reassemble
a mastodon skeleton for display. “My
favorite place is beneath his bones,” she
says, as Italian artist Marinoni paints her
taking tea with a doll underneath it.
When a request comes to put the mast-
odon on temporary exhibit in London,
Sybilla rebels. Her father and older
brother Rembrandt acquiesce; their
gentle approach allows Sybilla to recon-
sider. She consults the mastodon: “My
mastodon says yes, in his own quiet way.”
Architecturally detailed, theatrically lit
illustrations by Marinoni set the swoops
and curves of the fossilized mastodon
against period dress and household furnish-
ings. Nurtured by intelligent, eccentric
family members and permitted famil-
iarity with priceless scientific curiosities,
Sybilla has an ideal Enlightenment-era
childhood. An author’s note provides
historical context. Ages 8–up. (Apr.)Fiction
The Space Between Lost and Found
Sandy Stark-McGinnis. Bloomsbury, $16.99
(272p) ISBN 978-1-5476-0123-3
Cassie Rodrigues’s adventurous mother
was the vital heart of her family, always