Victoria Kann

That pink-loving little girl, whose story began in the eponymous Pinkalicious, and then continued in Purplicious, returns in this third picture-book devoted to her (rather bratty) adventures. This time, the theme is pretend play, and Pinkalicious enjoys a day of make believe with her imaginary friend, Goldilicious the unicorn. Pinkalicious' brother Peter also gets in on the action, kidnapping the unicorn, who escapes and is transformed into a mermaid (sort of). Despite these contretemps, at show more the end of the day Pinkalicious discovers that her friend is waiting for her at bedtime...

Like its predecessors, Goldilicious is a hot mess: poorly written, poorly illustrated, and poorly thought out. I continue to find Victoria Kann's artwork flat and unappealing, and her heroine intensely unlikable. While I understand that young children don't always exhibit the best behavior, I find it odd that Pinkalicious' lack of respect for her elders (as in previous stories, she is rude to her parents here) and for her home (she makes a mess, playing in the living room) is never really addressed in the story. This sort of thing - issues going unresolved in the story - seems quite common in these books. As mentioned in previous reviews, I am reading this entire series for a work-related project, otherwise I probably wouldn't have continued past the initial title, given how unimpressed I was with it. That said, I think if anything the quality of storytelling has decreased, as I've read through subsequent books. There are infinitely better stories out there about girls and unicorns - try Uni the Unicorn, for starters - and it is to such titles that I would direct readers, rather than to these books. Not recommended. show less

Our pink-loving heroine finds herself persecuted by the other girls at school in this follow-up to her initial adventure, chronicled in the eponymous Pinkalicious. When her classmates declare that pink is passé (and even putrid) and that black is where it's at, Pinkalicious is thrown into a funk, especially when no one will play with her. Attempting to fit in by abandoning her favorite color, she has vanilla ice cream instead of Pink Passion Fruit Paradise, and even begins to paint a show more picture using black paint. Then she meets a girl who loves blue, and together they make an amazing new hue: purple!

As with its predecessor, I was singularly unimpressed with Purplicious, finding the artwork flat and uninteresting, the heroine obnoxious, and the story unappealing. Leaving aside the unlikelihood of a scenario in which little goth girls torment pink princesses - is this really a thing? - I was troubled here by the fact that the bullying issue is resolved for the main character through her interaction with another girl, who offers her some reinforcement, when it comes to her love of pink, rather than through any internal realization that tastes vary, that it's perfectly acceptable for some little girls to like black, and others to like pink, and that bullying anyone for their favorite color is both mean-spirited and stupid. I rather regret that I've committed to reading this entire series, as part of a project, as so far I have been less-than-thrilled. There are far better stories out there about bullying, and far-better series about sparkle-loving girls - this one is not recommended. show less

A young girl who is obsessed with all things pink finds herself turning her favorite color, after eating one too many pink cupcakes. Her parents are horrified, and rush her to the doctor, who diagnoses a case of Pinkitis, and recommends a healthy dose of vegetables. The girl herself isn't convinced that being pink is a bad thing, but when continued cupcake eating turns her a deep shade of red, she realizes that being herself is best...

The first of a best-selling series of picture-books about show more this girl and her color-related adventures, Pinkalicious is utterly unappealing, and I find myself at a complete loss to understand its success. The artwork is flat and formulaic, the main character obnoxious, and the story unsatisfying. I disliked the fact that eating vegetables was described in such a viscerally negative way in the story - don't we have enough of a problem getting children to make healthy food choices? - and wasn't thrilled at the way the heroine's bad behavior (lying, stealing) was addressed, mostly because it wasn't. I'm in the midst of a project at work to read through our picture-book section, so I will (unfortunately) be picking up more of these books, but I don't really recommend this one. I understand that the sparkly cover, prominence of pink, and presence of cupcakes might hold great appeal, especially for young girls, but there are better series out there - the Fancy Nancy books, the stories about Tallulah the ballerina - that fit the bill. Try one of those instead! show less

When Pinkalicious finds a merminnie - a species of miniature mermaid - at the beach, she presses the lost sea creature to spend the day with her, deaf to her continual pleas to be returned to her home. Pinkalicious and her brother Peter drag Aqua (the merminnie) around all day, building her a sand castle, taking her to lunch, and to play miniature golf. Then they finally return her to the sea, only to discover that her "home" is the local aquarium/museum...

The sixth and thus far final show more picture-book to feature the adventures of Pinkalicious, Aqualicious is notable (much like its predecessors) for its poorly written and poorly thought out story, its flat and uninspiring illustrations, and its obnoxious heroine. I didn't think that the bad behavior modeled by the heroine in Silverlicious, in which she spits out the treats left for her by various magical gift-givers, demanding something different and better, could be topped, but she was actually even worse here. I have a colleague who sarcastically described this book as a kidnapping/hostage story, and he's not too far off. I'm glad to be done with these picture-books, which I was reading for a work-related project, and which I decidedly do not recommend. show less