A set of message-driven but compelling read-aloud tales.
Hilfiker presents a collection of four illustrated stories with clear morals for young children.
In the opening tale, “Grizzlies Win,” an anthropomorphic bear named Tobey, who lives in the Everglades, very much wants to be liked at school. However, every attempt he makes to ingratiate himself to others—playing sports, wearing flashy clothing, clowning around in class—leaves him more ostracized. He turns to an elderly neighbor for advice, and on her recommendation, he acts naturally instead of trying to play a part, and he ends up helping his classmates achieve victory in their annual competition against a rival school of panthers. “What If the Stars Could Speak?” is a meditation on history and nature by a young boy who goes out onto the deck one night at a lakeside cabin. “The Fable of Two Trees” tells the story of Cesar and Rudy, who sprout from seeds at the same time but choose different ways of growing: Cesar wants to be taller than all other trees, while Rudy spreads out his branches to capture as much sunlight as possible. Cesar’s glory-seeking becomes his downfall, and Rudy is left feeling bereft rather than triumphant. “How Pelicans Got a Pouch” explains a natural phenomenon through a tale of a fight between two brothers to rule an ancient kingdom. When the dying king appoints his younger son, Kindehar, as his heir, older son Callister rebels by stealing a sacred chalice that serves as a vessel for the kingdom’s continuity. Kindehar, with divine and other assistance, saves the kingdom.
The four stories in this book are charming and are likely to appeal to adults looking to share positive messages with children. The works are explicit in their didactic messaging (“All you really need to be is what you are. That’s the most important lesson in the world”), and readers will have no trouble discerning each story’s lesson as they read along. However, the stories are engaging enough that they don’t feel overly focused on their messages. They contain some elegant phrases and moments of insight along the way (“If there were a hundred kids looking at the moon from this side of the lake, would there be a hundred different paths of moonlight?” one character wonders at one point), and there are some richly drawn characters who help to bring the narratives to vivid life. The author also offers some intriguing explorations of the human tendency to place oneself at the core of every story, as Cesar explicitly points out in “The Fable of Two Trees.” The well-organized tales increase in length and conceptual complexity as the book goes on. Lim's illustrations, with their muted color palette and watercolorlike style, add plenty of visual interest and capture the characters effectively. The short lengths of the individual stories and the brevity of the book as a whole make it suitable for reading aloud, and the morals will provide plenty of opportunities for further discussion.
A set of message-driven but compelling read-aloud tales.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 83
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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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