Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
It's a schoolyard rumble: dreary realism vs. unbridled imagination! (One guess as to which one triumphs.) Even if the conclusion is never in doubt, first-timer Janssens makes getting there a world of fun, largely due to his three-dimensional sculptures that bring to life the invented adventures of a boy named Kenny. A snooty dweeb named Leo is so busy showing off his shiny new bike that he runs right into the cardboard box that Kenny occupies on the playground. "Why are you sitting in that silly box?" yells Leo, prompting Kenny to launch into a story in which the box transforms into a race car, mountaintop cabin, hot air balloon, and more (Leo, meanwhile, is repeatedly recast as the villain). At each juncture, Leo shouts his protests ("That's impossible!"), but the kids-and Leo, eventually-are won over by Kenny's storytelling. Like his hero, Janssens has a strong sense of whimsy (parsley sprigs form a cluster of trees, cellophane becomes the ocean's churning waves); with bright eyes, a wide smile, and a haircut that's all cowlicks, Kenny is every ounce the dreamer. Ages 3-6. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Braggart Leo crashes his new red bike into creative Kenny's large cardboard box. He is furious that the box is in the middle of the schoolyard, and his anger escalates as he hears Kenny's stories of using the box to travel to a jungle, an icy mountaintop, and inside a whale. "That's impossible," Leo consistently sneers. Lucky for him, when other children choose to join the trip of imagination, they invite Leo along as the box becomes a crane, a tent, a store, and a robot. This picture book employs photographs of posed sculptures ranging from wild-haired children to elephants and hot-air balloons. Much of the white type is difficult to read as its style incorporates faded letters, but the meticulous scenes are lively.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
All those anecdotes about how children prefer playing with a big empty box instead of the present inside pop up in this earnest little tale translated from the Dutch. Leo has a new red bike, of which he is very proud. While riding it around the schoolyard, however, he crashes into a big cardboard box that Kenny is sitting in. Leo falls and is pretty annoyed, but Kenny announces that he was hiding in the box to escape a rhino. The box transforms into a car to aid Kenny's escape, but the jungle presents tough terrain, so it turns into an elephant, with Kenny's box a basket on its back. The box continues its transformations as Kenny's stories get even more elaborate. Each time Leo declares the impossibility of a transformation, Kenny calmly refutes it. Eventually all the children want to join Kenny in his adventures in the box, and even Leo decides the box is way more fun than his shiny red bike. The illustrations seem to be photographs of three-dimensional figures and collage, with the children, beasts and objects molded from some kind of claylike substance. Kenny has wild, stand-up hair, and the group of children is ethnically mixed. The endpapers are a close-up image of a corrugated cardboard box--just right. The art is striking, even if the text is a little too preachy. (Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
