This witty, contemporary fable brilliantly champions truth in an era of fake news, alternative facts, and rampant lies.
When other animals fail to take a stand, a lying warthog becomes their king with devastating results.
“A runt who wanted / to be a huge pig,” the warthog “started off small,” telling tall tales and lying “to feel big.” Claiming night is day and rain is dry, the warthog brags how high he can fly, how great and handsome he is. Many find his behavior shameful but do nothing to stop him. As “his fibbing got bolder,” the bullying warthog climbs “up on the backs of his lies” to become king, lying to fill his wallet, questioning “all that was right,” and turning subjects against one another. But when “all that was false was spoken as true,” his lies eventually ensnare him. Beard spins his relevant cautionary tale in droll verse that builds in intensity as the warthog’s dishonesty expands. Signature ink-and-watercolor illustrations feature the warthog and his exotic subjects, drawn in neat, black outlines and filled with pale washes. The plain white background calls attention to the hand-lettered text and drama of the narcissistic warthog, who wears an officious sneer and absurd crown, strutting, posing, leaping, denouncing, and accusing his way across pages as stunned animals collapse beneath his lies.
This witty, contemporary fable brilliantly champions truth in an era of fake news, alternative facts, and rampant lies. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62634-528-7
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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