by Berta Serrano ; illustrated by Alfonso Serrano ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2013
In sum, while this title has its heart in the right place, it misses a lot of beats in its efforts. (Picture book. 3-5)
A well-intentioned, heartfelt effort to celebrate adoption ends up delivering problematic messages about fatherhood, birth families, and even the birds and the bees.
Cartoonish cover art shows a woman, Rose, with her heart protruding from her chest on a stemlike appendage. It’s not a grotesque image so much as it seems a feeble attempt to literalize the oft-stated line in adoptive families that children are, as the title says, “born from the heart.” This approach ends up making Rose appear pregnant, sort of…while her husband’s body remains unchanged. Is the child not born from his heart, too? Why not? Later, the doctor who has prescribed a “magic recipe” to Rose can “see something gleaming” in the prospective adoptive mother’s heart, akin to a sonogram image. This attempt, among others, to equate the adoption process with having a biological child seems to undermine the celebration of adoption by trying to make it “just like” having a biological child, suggesting that there’s something shameful about adoption itself. Then when the mother holds her new baby for the first time, the art depicts her lying on her back on the ground, her knees up and spread apart, in a quasi-birthing position. Other, much stronger titles about this important theme abound.
In sum, while this title has its heart in the right place, it misses a lot of beats in its efforts. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1144-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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SEEN & HEARD
by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival
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