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MacKay, Elly
6 Reviews
(3)
K-3
Mip challenges Pip to a race to build the tallest treehouse. Impulsive Mip gets to work right away, while planner Pip drafts detailed blueprints. When things don't go as hoped, the two young fairies work together and discover the joys of teamwork. The mixed-media art has an immersive 3D quality that makes the fairies and their creations pop off the page.
Reviewer: Meredith Madyda
(3)
K-3
Stunning art--photographs of paper dioramas in which two children and a caregiver sail through and frolic beside luminous seascapes--adds a narrative element to this collection of weather lore. Historical weather-prediction sayings in rhyme are each based on observations in nature: "Ring around the moon, rain will come soon. / Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!" Back matter explains each bit of "Weather Wisdom." Bib.
Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty
(2)
K-3
In this mostly wordless book, multilayered mixed-media panel illustrations in grays and blues reflect a girl's reluctance to brave a rainy night and attend The Nutcracker (and to sit next to a boy). A full-page close-up captures her wonder as the overture's first strains sound; the ballet unfolds in glorious color with dreamily gauzy backgrounds. Both ballet and framing story feature welcomely diverse casts.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2017
(3)
K-3
A girl is sad to leave her rural home: "most of all, she was going to miss the butterflies." Her new house is next to "Butterfly Park," a city park with no actual butterflies...or flowers. The girl galvanizes her neighbors to create a beautiful green space for all. Dainty, distinctive mixed-media collages that look 3-D enhance the simple story line.
Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz
(3)
PS
"There is a time, as evening paints the summer sky... / when shadows come out to play." Three children venture into the forest at sunset, chasing mysterious animal shadows and drawing readers into the search, too. The evocative poem is accompanied by appropriately dreamlike multi-layered illustrations, created using ingenious paper dioramas, which begin in warm sunset tones and cool to purples as nighttime falls.
Reviewer: Martha Sibert
(4)
PS
After planting a seed and making a wish, a young boy grows, as does the tree his seed becomes. The chocolate-box ending, with the wish revealed as the presumably now-adult boy sits in the tree with his son, reflects an adult sensibility rather than a child's. The illustrations, however, create the impression of 3-D shadow and light and may demand a second look.
Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey
6 reviews
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