Many kids begin wondering about their origins at a young age but some parents might not be comfortable getting into discussions about sexual reproduction too early. This paperback co-written by a board-certified pediatrician and his screenwriting brother provides them with an easy out.
Jeffrey comes home from school wanting answers, and on the left side of each spread he asks a probing question about how he came to be using simple language and concepts any curious child might use, such as “Was I hatched from a giant egg?” On the top of each adjacent page, the wildly imaginative Jeffrey conjures up a lavishly illustrated scenario wherein the response to his inquiry is yes: “I bet Mommy sat on me for a whole year until I broke out of my shell with my feathers and claws and my big, colorful dragon wings.” As his doting parents patiently weigh in (yes, Mommy did grow him for nine months, but no, not in a garden like a Venus Flytrap), the love between parent and child is made plainly evident. When Jeffrey finally finds out some semblance of the truth—that he was made out of love—young readers will surely feel just as satisfied by the resolution as little Jeffrey. They’ll also be drawn to all the robots and purple tentacled aliens of Jeffrey’s imagination too. But given that it features a happily married couple as parents, the book might be off-putting for single-parent or broken-family households. Also, the book’s title gives away the punch line before the spine is even cracked. Nonetheless, this is a heartwarming lesson in parenting for the “Brady Bunch” set. An imaginative picture book for tiny tykes that enterainingly addresses how babies are made without resorting to biological terminology.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1937387259
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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