Lola Dutch

October 23, 2017
In their first collaboration, spouses Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright (I Heart You) introduce Lola Dutch, who “is a little bit much.” Rocking a pink tutu and a megawatt smile, she sails down the bannister in her elegant home (landing on her caregiver, Bear) and announces, “Today is going to be amazing! I’m just bursting with ideas!” Lola overrules Bear’s suggestion that they start the day with tea and toast, and instead prepares a lavish breakfast for her pals Gator, Crane, and Pig. At the library, art books ignite Lola’s imagination, and back home she creates stylized versions of eight masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, which she paints on the ceiling. In an abrupt turnabout, Lola’s too-much-isn’t-nearly-enough attitude gets the best of her at bedtime. “This is all too much!” she wails before concluding that all she needs is Bear’s love. Sara Jane Wright’s gouache and watercolor pictures bring a chic elegance to each page, but with a plot that mostly tracks Lola’s shifting enthusiasms, she winds up a heroine in search of a story. Ages 3–6. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management.

March 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-Lola Dutch is a creative and imaginative girl filled with grand ideas. When Lola and her friends, Pig, Crane, Gator, and Bear need breakfast, Lola doesn't settle for plain toast. She prepares a feast of grits, pastries, and crepes. When Lola and her friends get creative one afternoon, they don't just paint pictures of houses and rainbows. Instead, they create their own masterpieces using inspiration from artists like Monet, Picasso, and van Gogh. Through it all, Bear is always the voice of reason reminding Lola she is just a "little bit much." The predictable text structures and patterns of this story makes the text flow well for young readers. The pencil-and-watercolor illustrations add an additional whimsical effect to an already imaginative story. VERDICT Young readers will love this innovative protagonist and her fanciful ideas.-Jennifer Bludau, La Grange Independent School District, TX

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2017
An energetic kid has an energetic day.A tall, skinny white girl slides gleefully down a bannister, landing atop a tall bear who seems to be her guardian. Bear suggests tea and toast for breakfast, but Lola whips up a feast. At the library, "a little light reading" becomes stacks of books taller than Lola; at the park, Lola and Bear pause--not on a regular bridge but on Claude Monet's Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, inspired by Lola's newly acquired knowledge of art. The pencil, gouache, and watercolor illustrations are whimsical and breezy, with a lovely airiness that helps give the lie to the piece's premise. Both the opening lines--"This is Lola. Lola Dutch. Lola Dutch is a little bit much"--and Bear's repetition of "a little bit much" or variations thereof imply a mischievous or melodramatic Lola. But in a picture-book world founded by Max and Eloise, Lola's not intense or naughty; she's merely exuberant. She elegantly re-creates Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam on her ceiling, adding herself and her friends to it. With a different illustrative style, a child-improvised Sistine Chapel at home could certainly be too "much," but here it's neither chaotic nor messy. Given that, the repeated premise chastises and chafes--and implies a call for quieter girls.Not what it says on the tin. (Picture book. 4-6)

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