Ebony and the Man in the Big Blue Overalls

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Ebony and the Man in the Big Blue Overalls

Name: Ebony and the Man in the Big Blue Overalls
Author: Anita Lamb
ISBN: 978-1493103010

by Anita Lamb ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 2013

A charming, high-action farm story sure to be a hit with budding animal rescuers.

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Debut author Lamb retells the true story of a calf rescue from the point of view of the calf in this action-packed picture book.

A newly born calf is hungry for milk, but every time she approaches her mother, the cow butts her back into a cold creek. Luckily for the calf, the man in the big blue overalls arrives on the scene and rescues her from the creek. The man’s first thought is to take the calf to her mother, but when he sees the cow push her calf back into the creek, he gets another idea: He’ll take the calf back to the barn with him on his four-wheeler. Chased by the angry mother cow, the man with the big blue overalls and the calf only barely escape. But soon the calf is greeted by the man’s wife, who gives her a name: Ebony. After getting warm and fed, things are looking up for Ebony, but her mother still doesn’t want her, so the man hatches a plan. When another cow’s calf dies, he attaches the dead calf’s hide to Ebony, so she smells like the other calf. The friendly cow adopts Ebony, but Ebony never forgets the man with the big blue overalls and his kind wife. Based on Lamb’s experiences with her husband in raising Ebony, the story offers a more domestic perspective on animal rescue, and animal lovers will be instantly engaged by Ebony’s situation. The vocabulary may be challenging to beginning readers, and the text is on the long side for lap reading, but independent readers not quite ready for chapter books will be hooked by the action and the New Zealand farm setting. The serviceable illustrations by Obina are attractive, but three are repeated, an odd decision given the relatively short length of the book. A photograph of the author with real-life Ebony in the end pages adds authenticity.

A charming, high-action farm story sure to be a hit with budding animal rescuers.

Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2013

ISBN: 978-1493103010

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Xlibris

Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

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Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)