Rocket the Brave!

Starred review from May 15, 2018
Into the woods....Hills' canine picture-book protagonist, Rocket, learned how to read in his first book and now stars in an early reader designed for kids learning to read, too. The story opens when Rocket is charmed by a pink butterfly that lands on his nose, and he follows it from spread to spread until it "flies into the forest." In contrast with prior spreads that featured ample white, open space, the ensuing illustrations of the forest are dark and saturated. A full-bleed double-page spread shows Rocket small and low at the bottom of the verso with the forest before him: "The forest is very dark. The trees are very tall. Rocket does not want to go into the forest." After some hemming and hawing, Rocket's desire to find the butterfly overpowers his fear of the forest, and he walks among the tall trees, looking at pine cones, ferns, and, finally, the butterfly. Necessary redundancy between art and text befits the early-reader form and allows children to find cues in the art to support decoding of the controlled text, but Hills' deep experience as a picture-book artist enriches his attention to framing, pacing, and layout. The result is an exemplary early reader in words and images, with a happy ending, to boot.Rock on, Rocket! (Early reader. 5-7)

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July 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 1-In his latest story, Rocket the dog discovers a butterfly, and he and his new friend chase and play tag until the butterfly heads into a dark forest. Rocket is hesitant to follow, but screws up his courage and makes his way in. He finds that he likes the tall trees, the lush plants, and, of course, his friend butterfly. This is a slight story with the right ingredients for new readers-repetition, short sentences, and plenty of picture clues. While Hills's illustrations initially leave plenty of white space, when Rocket arrives at the forest the dark illustrations take over the page, heightening the "creep" factor and making Rocket's choice to follow the butterfly that much more poignant. VERDICT Readers who have enjoyed Rocket's adventures in his longer picture books and are eager to read on their own will be happy to find this story. A terrific easy reader for most libraries.-Mary Kuehner, Arapahoe Library District, CO

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