Little rabbit wakes to find it’s been snowing all night long. Excited about the snow day, the pajama-clad tyke bolts for the door, but Mommy doesn’t want her little one to catch cold. Together they must wait for the storm to subside, and the dark-lit day is filled with a series of quiet, intimate moments: Little rabbit makes a snow dumpling on the apartment balcony; mother and offspring play cards to pass the time; the two silently watch the snow fall and feel the solitude of the empty streets. “Mommy, we are all alone in the world,” says the meditative bunny as the snow swirls around them, creating a vast canvas of white and grey. Sakai’s muted palette and grainy illustrations perfectly capture the quiet, opaque atmosphere of a snowy day. The cant of rabbit’s ears and clever compositions subtly indicate the little one’s emotional state: Tighter, denser compositions denote when rabbit is safe inside; open, expansive urban landscapes with ample negative space capture the freedom of playing in fresh-fallen snow. A reassuring story, perfect for a winter’s day. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-545-01321-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2008
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Lola’s daddy takes her to the library every Saturday, where she finds “excellent books,” and every night her mommy or daddy reads them to her. The next day Lola acts out the story. On Sunday she’s a fairy princess; on Monday she takes her toy animals “on fantastic trips to places like Paris”; on Wednesday she’s a tiger, etc. Each new book and day provides Lola with a variety of tales to play out, with the last one—which is about a wild monster—posing the question, “What will Lola be tomorrow?” The final page shows her in a wolf suit just like Max’s. The library books, the pretending and the incorporation of the days of the week work together as a simple and pleasing premise. Beardshaw’s acrylic illustrations depict the multicultural kids and Lola’s black family with childlike charm, while the title will have librarians, parents and booksellers smiling. Alert: The book will be an invitation for lap kids to follow Lola’s lead—not such a bad thing. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-258-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
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