A sweet story about harsh realities, laced with hope.
A Bengali girl worries about her father when he sets out for the jungle.
Every day, Jhupli’s Baba takes his boat across the river to the jungle to collect honey, which he sells to support the family. Baba’s money pays for their food, like the fish in the chochchori that Ma makes for dinner. While Jhupli understands that he must go, she still frets that her father—like others before him—will fail to come home. As the omniscient narrator explains, “These Sundarban jungles are full of tigers. Those who go in there, go in danger.” Fearful for her father’s life, Jhupli has an idea and asks her teacher if the village can get government-issued honey boxes so workers like her father can “make honey at home.” Jhupli’s teacher appreciates her idea and does the legwork necessary to supply the village with boxes, ensuring that honey gatherers like Jhupli’s father won’t have to risk their lives again. At times, the verbose prose, translated from Bengali by the author, wanders into constructions too awkward for children to understand, and the resolution relies more on the actions of Jhupli’s teacher than Jhupli herself, making the book feel a bit like an instructional text for adults. Still, the tender tone and softly smudged illustrations lend the tale a gentle, dreamlike quality sure to delight young readers.
A sweet story about harsh realities, laced with hope. (glossary, information on honey bee boxes and the honey gatherers of the Sundarbans, map) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781662514678
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amazon Crossing Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.
In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.
Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250393975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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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
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