Despite the book’s treatment of relative size, it is a lovely Christmas tale focusing on the simple joys of the season; the...
A gnome works with three forest critters to gather some DIY Christmas ornaments.
Pip, a pale-skinned gnome, has an apple; a European robin provides “soft woollen thread”; a rabbit brings “golden straw”; and a mouse retrieves a rosehip from its mouse hole. Pip realizes that their pine tree needs one last thing and fetches a candle from his house. Kwant’s art is the star of this simple story. Rendered in what looks to be soft colored pencil or oil pastels, the scenes beautifully evoke the playful joy of decorating a tree. Pip is especially endearing, with his apple-doll face, Santa-red hat, and apple-green suit. Not knowing the average height of gnomes, toddlers may be confused by the scale of this book. The apple appears to be the size of a pumpkin, the tree is a hand taller than Pip, and the rabbit is only a head taller than the mouse.
Despite the book’s treatment of relative size, it is a lovely Christmas tale focusing on the simple joys of the season; the holiday’s commercial aspects are refreshingly absent. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78250-328-6
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Floris
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Pick up a copy or two for the toddlers and toddler-fans in your life.
A celebration of what it is to be 2!
Toddlerhood often gets a bad rap—just think of the phrase “terrible twos.” But in O’Leary and Klassen’s hands, 2 is anything but terrible. Two is active, capable, vocal, compassionate, thoughtful, creative, determined…whole. Two is human in this picture book, and the narration’s direct address provides affirmation of toddlers’ human complexity and dignity from one spread to the next: “Now that you are two, you are learning about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You are forming memories and making plans.” Accompanying illustrations depict a diverse range of children, different ones on each spread, which nicely avoids having any one depiction of toddlerhood falsely stand in as universal, who engage in activities that echo or expand on the text. Playful industriousness gives way to contemplative calm or mischievous determination, embodied in the faces and postures of the children. The dialectic between art and text offers some surprises, too, as when the line “Wherever you go your baby goes, too” is paired with a picture of a child in the bathtub—not with a baby doll but with a sudsy toy T. Rex.
Pick up a copy or two for the toddlers and toddler-fans in your life. (Picture book. 2)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77147-073-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While there are some clever moments, ultimately it’s a one-joke offering.
Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-948931-15-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Hazy Dell Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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