A disappointing story with a hopeful ending.
A stray dog fends for himself during a period of frightening disruption in this Chinese import.
As the story opens, a young girl and her grandmother bring the dog food regularly. The little girl enjoys playing with the dog, but her parents won’t allow her to take him home. One day, his bowl is empty, and so are the streets. The pooch sees some people in masks but doesn’t understand what’s happening. As time passes, the dog grows hungrier and thinner. The girl reappears and brings him home—her parents, presumably medical workers, have been called away because people are getting sick. The child, via her smartphone, is finally given permission to keep the dog. They wait for the parents to return and for the day they can all go outside once again. Ai and Xing’s rather flat and simplistic story of a pandemic is narrated by the dog protagonist, who varies between ignorance and omniscience. He seems to know why the girl’s parents won’t allow her to take him home and why the parents have to leave. Although a lockdown is implied, the girl and her grandmother go out to retrieve the dog anyway. Illness is only mentioned in passing but nothing about a quarantine or widespread contamination. The soft-edged illustrations add little, though the dog is cute; human characters throughout have pale skin, and the setting is ambiguous.
A disappointing story with a hopeful ending. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64074-122-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cardinal Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Understated, unsentimental, and gently done.
When Old Turtle dies, his friends remember.
The text is in white, dropped-out letters on dark and glowing full-bleed backgrounds, which take place in the waters of the sea. The animals are only slightly anthropomorphized visually, but their thoughts and emotions are very human. The word “death” is never used, but the story opens with Old Turtle (probably not the same Old Turtle as Douglas Wood’s) on his last day, when he “swam his last swim and took his last breath.” The other turtles remember how he taught them to swim; the sea otters remember how he loved to play and laugh; a starfish and a manatee remember how Old Turtle rescued them from danger. After each glimpse at an animal or animal community that Old Turtle touched, the refrain emphasizes they will always remember. The final page sums it up: “he made his world a better place. / When he was done, the ocean took him back.” Without mentioning a deity or religion, the text discusses how people remember those who have died and how their lives go on beyond them.
Understated, unsentimental, and gently done. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16809-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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A quirky, fun story that will appeal to young audiences looking for a little bit of scare, with a premise so good it...
A tiger can’t believe it’s being upstaged in this picture-book riff on William Blake’s famous poem.
A group of zoologically diverse animals huddle around a fire, listening to a porcupine read from a chilling poem: “Bunnies, bunnies, burning bright, / in the forests of the night—.” An incredulous tiger interrupts, saying that the poem is actually about it. But a squirrel matter-of-factly states that “Here, it’s ‘bunnies, bunnies.’ ” The tiger still doesn’t understand why the animals would be so afraid of bunnies but not afraid of tigers and tries to explain why it, an apex predator, is far more threatening. The smaller animals remain unimpressed, calmly telling the tiger that “In this forest, we fear the bunny” and that it should “Hide now, before it’s too late.” An amusing and well-done premise slightly disappoints at the climax, with the tiger streaking away in terror before a horde of headlamp-wearing bunnies, but eager readers never learn what, exactly, the bunnies would do if they caught up. But at the end, a group of tigers joins the other animals in their awestruck reading of the adapted Blake poem, included in full at the end. Cute, fuzzy illustrations contrast nicely with the dark tone and forest background.
A quirky, fun story that will appeal to young audiences looking for a little bit of scare, with a premise so good it overcomes a weak conclusion. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7800-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
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