Uncomfortable and unremarkable.
Kids of many races celebrate nationalism at a Fourth of July parade.
This latest volume in the First Celebrations series invites children to identify eight basic colors and a few simple objects in a no-frills parade. The images are easily grasped but dull, with the same blue background on most pages. The occasion for the parade isn’t named, but the prevalence of red, white, and blue and an appearance by Uncle Sam suggest the Fourth of July. The top of the book is cut in a wavy pattern that complements the ripples of the flag on the cover, and two pages that focus on the red-and-white stripes of the flag exhort readers to “wave a flag back and forth.” The parade includes a fire engine, a marching band, floats, and a brown-skinned police officer on horseback. The multicultural cast also includes a black firefighter, a white marching-band drummer, and children of a variety of skin tones. This book can be seen as either determinedly aspirational or tone-deaf to the current moment. Against a backdrop of anti-immigrant sentiment and deportations, the celebratory air and unvaryingly smiling faces feel forced in their apparent enthusiasm.
Uncomfortable and unremarkable. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-58089-536-1
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring in alphabetical order.
Each page displays an enormous capital letter, one line of verse with the keyword capitalized, and a loving nonhuman parent gazing adoringly at their baby. “A is for Always. I always love you more. / B is for Butterfly kisses. It’s you that I adore.” While not named or labelled as such, the A is also for an alligator and its hatchling and B is for a butterfly and a butterfly child (not a caterpillar—biology is not the aim of this title) interacting in some way with the said letter. For E there are an elephant and a calf; U features a unicorn and foal; and X, keyed to the last letter of the animal’s name, corresponds to a fox and three pups. The final double-page spread shows all the featured creatures and their babies as the last line declares: “Baby, I love you from A to Z!” The verse is standard fare and appropriately sentimental. The art is cartoony-cute and populated by suitably loving critters on solid backgrounds. Hearts accent each scene, but the theme of the project is never in any doubt.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, but the syrupy sweetness will cloy after the holiday. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2095-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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