Tag Dan Santat

Hilda and Twig Hide From The Rain / Sidekicks

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Hilda and Twig Hide From The Rain
Luke Pearson
Flying Eye Books

This is in essence a prequel to previously published books starring Hilda.
‘Be back in time for dinner’ comes the call from mum as Hilda and Twig, a deer fox, set out for a walk, destination to be decided until, down comes the rain and they make a dash for the woods. Therein they come upon a cave offering shelter. Also sheltering there are a host of other creatures that are puzzled by Twig. They go on to discuss what the place actually is and buried treasure, and a giant snake are mentioned; the latter surely isn’t real decides Twig.

Nonetheless he pops back outside to check and as a result of what he sees, Twig and Hilda become separated. Now it’s up to Twig to find his brave side and protect his friend from becoming a creature’s dish of the day. Can he do so and what of the treasure that was spoken of?

It matters not whether readers have already met the main characters before as this adventure can stand alone. It’s smashing fun and definitely one to offer reluctant older readers as well as younger primary children.

Sidekicks
Dan Santat
Scholastic

Captain Amazing, defender of Metro City is feeling old and has decided that he needs a trusty sidekick. When his moggy, Manny, ran away, he was left with Roscoe the dog, Fluffy the hamster and Shifty the Chameleon as pets. Unknown to the Captain, each one is eager for the sidekick role; he’s also unaware that his pets have already begun to develop superpowers, all bar Fluffy as yet. Then back on the scene comes Manny offering to assist Fluffy with some superpower training (and at one point, a peanut as a reminder of something lesson learned).

Meanwhile the Captain’s arch nemesis Dr Havoc is planning something sinister for him. It’s time for serious teamwork from the would-be sidekicks and quickly too, for Captain Amazing’s life could be at stake. Metro City cannot be allowed to fall. Can the pets be the victors?

So cleverly constructed, hugely engaging, well paced with plenty of action and crazy capers, this book will certainly win a large number of fans.

The Princess and the Pitstop / Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee

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The Princess and the Pit Stop
Tom Angleberger and Dan Santat
Abrams

A princess racing car driver – Yeah! We first meet her as she makes a pit stop with one lap of the race left and is told by her Fairy Godmother that she’s in last place. ‘She might as well give up!’ is the suggestion from our narrator.
This particular princess is not however, a quitter: she’s one determined young woman and so it’s time to hit that accelerator – HARD!

Off she zooms, outstripping various opponents so the cleverly punning commentator tells us, leaving a trail of rainbow coloured exhaust in her wake.

Before long she’s whizzed past scores of nursery rhyme characters, and pretty much every fairy tale character you can think of, (‘She spun out Rumpelstiltskin and butted in front of the The Three Billy Goats Gruff!’ we hear) as well as Beatrix Potter’s Flopsy, Mopsy and Peter Rabbit (what happened to Cottontail one wonders), until the only cars still in front are those belonging to the two ugly stepsisters ( I guess Cinderella’s elsewhere engaged) and after a lot of bumping and blocking on the sisters’ part, whoppee! – our princess, who isn’t at all alarmed by a bit of biffing and bashing, is declared the winner.

That however isn’t quite the end of the tale: there’s another competition still to be won and that involves taking a partner.
I’m not sure I wouldn’t rather have had her perform solo again, but still, this telling, coupled with Dan Santat’s computer game animation style art work will surely give you an adrenalin rush.
Reading the break-neck speed narration of royalty and racing aloud left this adult reviewer more than a little breathless.
Long live girl power!
There’s another race in:

Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee
Jonathan Emmett and Ed Eaves
Oxford University Press

When news of the location of a priceless statue, The Golden Chimpanzee breaks, the race is on to get to the spot in the Jungle of Junoo on the shore of Lake Lazoo and secure the treasure.
Can canine explorer Cleopatra Bones, finder of the treasure map showing exactly where the statue is to be found, beat the opposition, in particular the dastardly driver of an armoured aqua-car, Al McNasty, and discover the hidden gold?

Cleo. spies something interesting, a monkey statue assuredly but it’s not a golden one and then suddenly Al McNasty skids to a halt at the base of the statue. He’s convinced the place to look is underground.
Al however isn’t prepared to pick up a spade and dig down deep in the hope of booty: instead he has another plan up his sleeve, one that entails creating a blast.

But when his ruse backfires in no uncertain terms, he inadvertently precipitates a rather exciting waterfall …

A fun, fast moving, rollicking rhyme from Jonathan Emmett accompanied by Ed Eaves’ detailed scenes of zany vehicles that travel over land, through water and air, driven by an array of funky animals is just the thing to keep youngsters on the edge of their seats as they root for Cleopatra and her pals, all of whom, along with the evil-intentioned reptile are catalogued inside the front and back covers.

After The Fall

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After The Fall
Dan Santat
Andersen Press

Most young children and adults are familiar with the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty and now author/illustrator Dan Santat has created a story telling what happened after that great fall of Humpty’s.

No he didn’t remain a splatted mess unable to be repaired.
Instead, in this self-narrated tale, the famous egg relates how he undergoes a long process of healing and recovery that begins once those king’s men have done their best with glue and bandages.

Physical recovery is one thing, but Humpty is suffering from acute vertigo, so much so that he now sleeps on the floor beside his bunk bed and his favourite breakfast cereals stored on the top shelf of the supermarket are out of reach.

Worst of all though is that Humpty is an avid ornithologist and absolutely loved that erstwhile seat of his atop the wall from where he used to watch his feathered friends.

Eventually however he settles for a ground-level view and it’s while looking upwards one day that he spies in the sky something that gives him an idea.

After considerable trials and tribulations,

Humpty eventually fashions the perfect flier of a paper plane; not quite the same as being up in the sky with the birds but ‘close enough’ he tells us. But then the plane lands up on top of a wall. ‘Accidents happen. They always do.’ says our narrator.

Absolutely terrified but full of determination, slowly but surely Humpty climbs the wall.

As someone who is terrified of heights, I really felt for him as he faced his fear, finally making it to the very top of that ladder. Once there he says triumphantly ‘I was no longer afraid.’

That though is not quite how the story ends for then comes a final twist. Now the narrator has undergone an inner change that enables him to release himself once and for all; after all’s said and done, an egg doesn’t remain trapped in a shell for ever more: a right of passage must occur for something even better awaits …
This is so much more than just a ‘what comes next’ episode of a Mother Goose favourite.
Santal presents themes of fearfulness, anxiety, determination and ultimately, transcendence and transformation through the combination of his spare first person narrative and his powerful scenes, made so affecting through the changing perspectives and use of shadow.