Publisher: Scholastic/Graphix
Release Date: July 31, 2018
Price: $17.99
Creator: Jeff Smith
Format: 40 pgs., Full-Color, 10"x10", Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-5456-7477-5
Age Rating: 3-5
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This is an absolutely beautiful book, filled with dreamlike imagery and based on Smiley Bone from the Bone graphic novels. The thing is... it may not really work for the publisher’s recommended age level of the intended audience.
If this same story had been marketed as a picture book for slightly older children, I’d have given it a higher rating. My reason is that it is both a dreamlike counting book and a story in which Smiley defends a group of birds from a sudden, violent attack. That jarring change of story happens in the middle of the tale, and even though the violence leads to a visual bird-poop joke, it jars the child out of the previously soft, dreamy story in an awkward way. For a 3-year-old, that seemed pretty odd, so I showed it to a librarian and mother, and she was also puzzled by the age range. The book is a visual treat, but the story won’t work for at least some preschoolers.
The dream story itself is cute, and the closing of the tale, in which Smiley talks about dreams, is clever and interesting. The counting aspect, which runs from one to twelve and then devolves into "lots" as more birds enter the scene, stopped being a counting book for several pages, until the countdown resumes after the violence. Overall, it seemed best as a book for kids used to more complicated stories, or ones who can read the book on their own.
Fans of the Bone graphic novels may want to buy it for their children. For kids 5 and older, this would be a fun introduction to Bone, as well as a good picture book.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
