The Crown on Your Head

July 11, 2011
Tillman (On the Night You Were Born) continues her project of nurturing children's self-esteem, creating a cascade of dreamlike spreads to accompany verses assuring them that "he world is a wonderland waiting for you." Her familiar brand of atmospheric, digitally created images show children who wear crowns "made up of sparkling, glimmering things/ like moonlight and fireflies, and dragonfly wings." These children are not the only ones who wear a crown; every child has one, Tillman explains: "No one's is brighter, no one's is duller./ It's only a crown of a different color." Tillman's montages begin with an infant and toddlers, before showing older children perching in a tree house, riding a cheetah, leaping with gazelles, and wearing a cape made of butterflies that come to life and flitter away. There's something magical about the idea of intimacy with wild animals; spreads in which Tillman imagines such interactions, like the cover image of the child asleep astride a zebra, have special power, especially as they're rendered with photograph-like verisimilitude. Tillman's affirmations will please her loyal audience: "Blink three times and... there you are!/ You are twinkling, little star!" Ages 4-8.

August 1, 2011

Every child is unique and special and loved, and one is told so, over and over, in this sentimental ode.

A little one is told that he wears a sparkling crown made of such esoteric materials as moonlight and fireflies. This crown will protect him and give him the ability to achieve anything he can dream and believe. Tillman employs couplets with a few tortured, but mostly accessible rhymes, some lovely imagery and lots of exclamation points. Full- and double-page spreads of super-bright, sharply colored illustrations convey the essence of the text as they depict the child with his crown glowing like a halo in endless fields of flowers or on an African plain with the most gentle elephants, zebra, antelopes and leopards in perfect sunny days and moonlit nights in the best of all possible worlds. But it is all just too perfect. The hyperbole becomes cloying as the child is told he is "chosen," "magnificent," "born to shine" and a "twinkling, little star." Before overweening self-esteem and elitism are carried too far, the child is reminded that all his friends have crowns of equal value. But, of course, his crown is his best friend. Parents and grandparents will love to read this aloud to their little ones, but it might be too much of a good thing.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2011

PreS-K-A child is born with a glowing crown on his head. Through the course of the book, the youngster grows, and the crown is always there. On each spread, he is set against a scene in nature-fields of flowers, twinkling night skies, an autumn tree-and often surrounded by animals. It's not until the end of the book that the idea that everyone is special in some way comes across. "No one's brighter, /no one's duller./It's only a crown of a different color." The mixed-media illustrations steal the show. The deep lush colors of the landscapes and the sky are very soothing. The animals, especially the zebra, are spectacular. Tillman adds another dreamy volume to her collection of self-esteem-building titles.-Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2011
Preschool Similar in tone and execution to her bestselling On the Night You Were Born (2006), Tillman's latest contribution will be welcomed by her fans. This slightly more imaginative take again speaks to the child directly, describing a crown placed on a child's head, presumably by a parent, that imbues that child with all that makes him or her unique and special. Young children might not realize that the crown is metaphorical, as it's pictured as a real crown in the colorful illustrations that create a sort of magical realism. This fanciful, soft-focus artwork portrays a growing child adorned with the sparkling crown in a series of vignettes: first as a baby, sleeping on a lily pad; then as a toddler on a sand dune; as a young child riding a leopard; and so on, until the images come full circle and the child is shown sleeping under the stars with a zebra standing by. Sentimental paeans to self-esteem such as this aren't for everyone, but this is soothing, visually attractive, and makes for a comforting bedtime read-aloud.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)