A true luminary and creative spirit, William Joyce has put his personal stamp on children’s media in every direction.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Zozo's minions, whenever a human is nearby, collapse to the ground to be mistaken for piles of junk. As e-books put pressure on the printed word, picture books that romanticize books proliferate (The Lonely Book, It’s a Book, and Dog Loves Books come to mind). Sabes que un libro te va a cambiar la vida cuando debes frenarte a ti mismo para no acabarlo, quieres que dure por siempre.The dashing derring-do of this eponymous hero is set forth in eight piquant chapters that offer, according to PW , ``high adventure and rib-tickling hilarity in the best tall-tale tradition.

The themes of love, loyalty, bravery, and remembering were inspiring, especially because of the age of the characters. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. While the Creeps dragged Billy in a burlap bag toward Zozo’s workroom, what was Billy able to see and do? One day, six-year-old Billy's forced to go to a wedding and brings Ollie with him, where Ollie is stolen by an evil toy clown named Zozo who wants to rid every child of their favorite toys.

Stephanie Snyder of Common Sense Media gave the series 4/5 stars praising its cinematography and storytelling while criticizing its "inauthentic" Southern accent of the characters. In the end, the message is no different from countless of its sentimental ilk: "It didn't matter if something was pretend or real; if it was remembered, then it was true. On the soundtrack, the Norwegian band, Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra, performed the cover of the Everly Brothers' version of All I Have to Do is Dream. On October 6, 2020, Netflix director Teddy Biaselli revealed that Lost Ollie had been picked up by the streaming platform, mentioning that the series had been in the works since 2016. I can picture parents having as much fun reading this to kids as kids would have reading it themselves.

What you don't expect is the beautiful and somewhat terrifying characterizations + drawings of the friends and enemies Ollie meets during his capture. Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the final days of the amusement park's life, a young girl came to the Bonk A Zozo game. The doctors did many tests on Billy, mostly to see how large this hole was and if, as one doctor said, “It was something to be really worried about. Launching the Guardians series, a chapter book counterpart to Joyce's Guardians of Childhood picture book series, this beguiling clash of good vs.Joyce's irresistible illustrations and joyous wordplay ("I am the Grand High Safemaster of Planet Billy," Ollie tells himself) are icing on the cake. It was Aventurous (as Billy and Ollie would say), heartwarming, giggle-inducing, and high-stakes action. It was made of various kinds of deliciously comfortable fabric, which she had chosen with great care. VERDICT With all the feel of a modern classic, this is an odyssey readers of all age swill want to take again and again; a wonderful choice for read-alouds.

Toward the end it felt like a bunch of random, but conveniently available, characters were dropped in to help the plot along. Love Redeems: Zozo's brief reunion with the spirit of the Ballerina makes him realize what it is he's been doing. I felt it was too "kid friendly" and there were some annoying (to me) writing ticks used by Joyce that I just couldn't get past: all of the purposefully bad grammar and all of the unnecessary quotation marks. The heart was made from a scrap of fabric that came from something very dear to her—a toy she had loved as a child.

The clown villain is unnecessarily horror movie creepy in the illustrations, so we waited until my kids were 9 and 11 for this one.