As cozy and safe as it is mannerly, with a patterned text well suited to storytime sharing with younger audiences.
An errant egg politely asks for help in this prehistoric take on the “are you my mother?” theme.
Blown by the wind out of its nest and down a hill, the egg plaintively calls out, “Excuse me, please, / but am I yours? / I’m sure I am / a dinosaur’s!” But a succession of dinos are stymied: “What do you look like inside that shell? / I can’t see in so I can’t tell,” they all begin and then list their own signature characteristics in search of similarities. The conundrum deepens as, in response to each passer-by’s questions, the egg’s resident replies that, no, it doesn’t have spikes along its spine like Stegosaurus’, or a crest like Corythosaurus’, or teeth “sharp up top and down beneath” like Tyrannosaurus’. What could it be? Amid neatly laid out rocks and flowers, Latimer surrounds the enigmatic speckled egg with recognizable dinosaurs, rendered in bright monochrome hues and bearing visibly concerned expressions that are transformed into smiles when, finally, the setting sun illuminates a shadowy shape within the shell. The egg is rolled back up the hill, and finally its titular query is answered: “We are. We are! We are YOURS! / We’re two ECSTATIC pterosaurs”—just as hatching time arrives.
As cozy and safe as it is mannerly, with a patterned text well suited to storytime sharing with younger audiences. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68263-044-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
