Tilly & Tank - a review

Tilly & Tank
by Jay Fleck
Tundra Books, 2017

The basis for Tilly & Tank is a clever idea. From an artistic point of view, a tank and an elephant are similar. The elephant has a trunk, tail, and head. The tank has a barrel, flag, and turret. They recognize themselves to be similar, but are unsure of their differences. Tilly is a peaceful shade of blue. Tank is army green. Tilly assumes Tank to be a friend. Tank assumes Tilly to be the enemy. In the end, however, it's a story of friendship, and incorrect assumptions,

"Oh no! thought Tank. He had been wrong. That wasn't an enemy. That was a friend!"

While the characters are endearing—digitally enhanced paintings in a muted, but colorful palette, the general warlike attitude of Tank may take some explaining. His viewpoint is through the crosshairs of a target sight, and his early responses to Tilly's attempts at friendship are to fire at her.

Tilly and Tank will appeal to kids attracted to weaponry (or elephants!) and educators or parents seeking to reinforce the concept of peace as the alternative to war.


Other Tilly & Tank reviews:

• Publishers Weekly
• Kirkus 

 My copy of Tilly & Tank was supplied by LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Picture Book Roundup - kind, find, and confined

It's been a while since I've done a picture book roundup.  Here are three that struck my fancy:

Kind. This boy is the best!

Have you seen Elephant? 

Written and illustrated by David Barrow.
Gecko Press, 2016

A kind young boy plays hide-and-seek with his elephant friend and takes care to keep the game going, despite the fact that his friend is a very poor hider! Have you seen Elephant? is bright and cheerful and funny, and above all - kind. This is the first book I've seen from Gecko Press and the first by David Barrow. I love it!





Confined? Can the colortamer catch them all?

Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color

Written and illustrated by Julia Denos
Balzer Bray, 2016

Bright, bold, and expressive, Swatch is a color tamer - trapping and using colors in the most fantastic of ways. A bold and fearless artist, no color had escaped her artistic eye ... no color but one,

"Morning came, and there it was, fast fading and fierce, the King of All Yellows, blooming in the sidewalk crack in spite of the shadows. Swatch was ready .... At last, Yellowest Yellow would be hers."

Or would it?

This is the first book that Julia Denos has written as well as illustrated. I would love this book even if my favorite color were not the hero of the story!


Find. Where is that cat?

Spot, the Cat 

Illustrated by Henry Cole
Little Simon, 2016

A beautifully detailed, wordless book - more than just a seek-and-find, it follows the path of an adventurous cat in the city and the boy who wants to find him. Join the young boy and search the city for Spot, the cat.

Picture book roundup - Twitter style

My calendar's packed. I just returned from a trip. I'm in the midst of a class. I'm presenting at a forum this week. But wait, four great new picture books are sitting on my table waiting to be reviewed!

What to do? Do it Twitter-style! Here they are in 140 characters or less:

• Willy. De Kockere. 2011. Erdman. Celebrating the peculiarities that make Willy the elephant special. Monty Python-esque art, a perfect foil to a quirky tale. Love it!

• Train Trip. Caswell. 2011.Hyperion. Cheerful and rhyming, a boy and a train bond during a trip. “Special treat. “Come on in!” “Sound the whistle?” Eager grin."

• Little Owl’s Night. Srinivasan. 2011. Viking. An owl observes the night’s activities. Dark colors, cheery wide-eyed creatures. Simple and serene.

• Shaggy Dogs, Waggy Dogs. Patricia Hubbell. 2011. Marshall Cavendish. Happy, rhyming, romping dogs. Dogs, dogs and more dogs! A storytime gem.

And one more of Willy, in case you didn't get enough!

©Copyright Carll Cneut

(Yikes! I forgot that MSWord doesn’t count spaces. Now I’ll have to be more clever!)