Molly Idle

Longing to be given an important task like other mermaids - something like guarding the giants of the deep, or tending to the forests of kelp - little Pearl asks her mother for something to do. When she is given a single grain of sand to care for, she is immensely disappointed. But then she notices a glow coming from her hands, when she shuts them around the grain, and begins to take its care more seriously. Eventually her grain grows into a huge luminescent ball, one that ascends through show more the waters, and then through the air, up into the heavens...

A sweet original fairy-tale from author/illustrator Molly Idle, who won a Caldecott Honor for her Flora and the Flamingo, Pearl explores the idea that from little things come great ones, and that no task is ever too insignificant to lead to wonderful results. The artwork, as is always the case with Idle, is both beautiful and cute, something that is difficult to pull off, as I usually find that illustrations are one or the other, but not both. The color palette here is just lovely, and Pearl has the sort of winsome expressiveness I have come to expect from a Molly Idle heroine. Recommended to fans of the artist, to young mermaid fans, and to anyone looking for new, original fairy-tales. show less

The children and dinosaurs whose story began in Tea Rex, and then continued in Camp Rex and Sea Rex, return in this fourth picture-book romp, this time celebrating Christmas. Presented in guide-book format, just like its predecessors, this tongue-in-cheek holiday title gives advice on how to prepare for Christmas day, while the artwork depicts the children's dinosaur guests running a bit amok...

As with its predecessors, I enjoyed the humorous contrast here between the calm, almost anodyne show more text and the rather more expressive illustrations. As is always the case with Molly Idle, the artwork in Santa Rex manages to be both cute and beautiful (not always the same thing!), capturing the humorous hi-jinks of the dinosaurs (and the little boy) to perfection. My favorite scene involved T-Rex using the curtains to make cut-out snowflakes! Recommended to Molly Idle fans, and to anyone who read and enjoyed the previous picture-books in the Tea Rex series. show less

Over the course of a year, Witch Hazel shares her stories and her days with her granddaughter in this beautifully-illustrated, poignant and ultimately hopeful picture book. As Hilda helps her with her tasks in each of the seasons, Hazel shares many tales of her own girlhood and youth, tales that Hilda can then share herself, when Hazel's final season comes. Carrying on after her loss, Hilda finds that the stories are still with her, making her less alone...

I have enjoyed a number of show more author/illustrator Molly Idle's picture books, from her humorous Tea Rex titles to her innovative and beautiful books about Flora and her friends, so when I discovered that she had produced a witchy tale—always a pet project of mine—I lost no time in tracking it down. How glad I am that I did, as Witch Hazel has both aesthetic pizazz and storytelling magic. The artwork is lovely, done on sepia-toned pages in black and a glowing white. The figures in white are those in the stories Hazel tells, those of the past and the imagination, while those in black are of the present. The memories shared are not spelled out in text, but in wordless sequences of art alone, leaving the reader to interpret them as she wills. Beautiful, creative, with a little witchy appeal—what's not to love? Add these qualities to a thoughtful narrative about love, the sharing of memories and stories, and then loss and healing, and you have something very special. Recommended to anyone looking for heartfelt and beautiful stories about the loss of a grandparent and/or the power of stories and or memory. show less

That charming young dancer Flora, whose story began in the Caldecott Honor Book Flora and the Flamingo, returns in this skating adventure, pairing up this time with a penguin. As the two swoop over the ice in a graceful dance, the duo seem perfectly in sync. Then penguin disappears beneath the ice, returning with a little offering for the sulky Flora. At first she rejects his gift of a fish, causing hurt feelings all around, but eventually the two reconcile, and are once again a pair...

Like show more its predecessor, Flora and the Penguin is a wordless picture-book, with flaps that can be lifted to show further motion on the page. Just as I was with Flora and the Flamingo, I was impressed here by the fact that the flaps - which I often find fairly superfluous to the story of the books in which they are included - furthered the narrative, showing the two figures of girl and penguin in their dance. Moving together, then apart, then together again, a story of friendship, misunderstanding and then reconciliation unfolds. Immensely effective, despite the absence of text, this is a book that features an endearing story, and delightful artwork. Recommended to anyone who enjoyed the first book about Flora, or who is looking for wintry picture-books featuring penguins (or ice-skating). show less