Though Snickerdoodle fails to resist gluttony with either cake, this remains a realistic look at problem-solving and making...
A young chinchilla who just can’t resist temptation comes up with a way to make amends.
Children (and adults!) will totally understand how Snickerdoodle feels when faced with the irresistible lure of his mother’s “Famous Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Buttercream Icing.” And if they don’t have personal experience, Long’s digital illustrations make the small creature’s feelings perfectly clear. Yes, the cake is marked with a “Do Not Touch” note. But even Snickerdoodle’s imagined picture of his mother as a forked-tongue, horned monster surrounded by fire and screaming “STAY AWAY FROM the CAKE” can’t stop him from rationalizing that the note didn’t say not to “try one tiny crumb.” Resistance is utterly futile after that, and though Snickerdoodle tries (hysterically) to control his wayward hand, he can’t control the tripping hazard that is his cat. Cliffhangers on many of the spreads lead readers to frantically turn the pages as each “But…” leads to yet more disaster for Snickerdoodle. The three siblings’ solution is perfectly in tune with what readers might do, and their results are believably childlike and completely satisfactory to their Na Na, whose birthday they are celebrating. While the male chinchillas in the anthropomorphic family are grayish, all the females have eyelashes and a slightly pink cast to their fur.
Though Snickerdoodle fails to resist gluttony with either cake, this remains a realistic look at problem-solving and making things right. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3784-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
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
A syrupy tribute to mothers that may please fans of the series.
Another creature is on the loose.
The long-running series continues its successful formula with this Hallmark card of a book, which features bright illustrations and catchy rhymes. This time, the mythical creature the racially diverse children set out to catch is an absent mom who does it all (lists of descriptors include the words banker, caregiver, nurse, doctor, driver, chef, housekeeper, teacher, entertainer, playmate, laundry service, problem solver, handywoman, cleaner, and alarm clock) but doesn’t seem to have a job outside the home and is inexplicably a dinosaur. As the children prepare gifts and a meal for her, the text becomes an ode to the skills the Mamasaurus possesses (“Day or night she’s always there. / She meets every wish and need”) and values she instills (“Sometimes life can mean hard work,” “kindness matters,” and “what counts is doing your best”). This well-intentioned selection veers into cliche generously sprinkled with saccharine but manages to redeem itself with its appreciation for mothers and all that they may do. Endpapers include a “to” and “from” page framed in a heart, as well as a page where young gift givers or recipients can draw a picture of their Mamasaurus.
A syrupy tribute to mothers that may please fans of the series. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781728274300
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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