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STORIES IN A SEASHELL

A circular figment that should work well as a lullaby.

If you can hear the sea in a seashell, maybe there’s a mermaid or a submarine in there, too, suggests Nogués Otero in this Spanish import.

Young Max, with his bucket and shovel, is kicking around on the beach. He finds a conch shell and puts it up to his ear to “see if it was true that one could hear the sea inside.” In Cabestany’s soft artwork of pencil and paint, a dreamy mood takes over the proceedings. Sitting on the beach, Max listens very carefully and experiences more than just the sound of the surf. He hears/imagines a pirate ship and a castaway holding a coconut head. There is also a mermaid in there, who startles an old man and his cabin boy (who are sailing in a folded-paper boat). Max can hear the calls of puffins and the flapping of their wings. The sea pulling at the stones on the shore in the backwash “made a little noise, like tickling.” A whale “spit gallons and gallons of steam,” though that “steam” looks a lot like fish. Max picks up the presence of “millions of silent jellyfish”—it’s his imagination, after all—and the whale sings its song, which alerts a submarine captain, who ups periscope to spy…a boy on the beach. Nogués Otero’s imagination makes a few odd turns, but since when are dreams beholden to the everyday? Max is depicted with pale skin and hair.

A circular figment that should work well as a lullaby. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-57565-968-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: StarBerry Books

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018

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I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER

Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...

A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.

A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.

Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017

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THE PIGEON NEEDS A BATH!

From the Pigeon series

Willems’ formula is still a winner.

The pigeon is back, and he is filthy!

Readers haven’t seen the pigeon for a couple of years, not since The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (2012), and apparently he hasn’t bathed in all that time. Per the usual routine, the bus driver (clad in shower cap and bathrobe) opens the story by asking readers to help convince the pigeon to take a bath. Though he’s covered in grime, the obstreperous bird predictably resists. He glares at readers and suggests that maybe they need baths. With the turn of the page, Willems anticipates readers’ energetic denials: The pigeon demands, “YEAH! When was the last time YOU had a bath?!” Another beat allows children to supply the answer. “Oh.” A trio of flies that find him repulsive (“P.U.!”) convinces him it’s time. One spread with 29 separate panels depicts the pigeon adjusting the bath (“Too wet!…Too cold.…Too reflective”) before the page turn reveals him jumping in with a spread-filling “SPLASH!” Readers accustomed to the pigeon formula will note that here the story breaks from its normal rhythms; instead of throwing a tantrum, the pigeon discovers what readers already know: “This is FUN!” All the elements are in place, including page backgrounds that modulate from dirty browns to fresh, clean colors and endpapers that bookend the story (including a very funny turnabout for the duckling, here a rubber bath toy).

Willems’ formula is still a winner. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: April 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4231-9087-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014

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