Pichard blends modern interests with the old-fashioned charm of receiving letters by post, proving in this digital age of...
A friendship blooms in this homage to the handwritten letter.
Oscar the ant and Bill the octopus are school pen pals. Through their correspondence, the two seemingly different creatures find much in common. Their communication, full of innocent questions and the sharing of wish lists and thoughtful mementos, brings them together. Through the letters (the book’s sole text), readers will experience the delight, disappointment, surprise, and anticipation each post brings. The digital illustrations, done with some collage, are reminiscent of Ed Emberley’s, with neon colors that pop on the page. A simple format helps clarify who is penning the letter (Bill’s are on the left with yellow stationery; Oscar’s are on the right with blue). Accompanying each message is an image of its author, almost always in the same pose—but with small additions. Finding what’s changed in the simple setup is part of the fun, allowing readers to notice the gifts sent to see how meaningful they are to their recipients. This illustrative device works well; however, this American translation fails to distinguish between the two characters’ handwriting (all text is set in a clean, sans serif typeface), missing the opportunity taken in the French original to further differentiate between the characters’ styles and personalities.
Pichard blends modern interests with the old-fashioned charm of receiving letters by post, proving in this digital age of social media, texting, abbreviation, and brevity that there’s still magic behind the stamp. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7247-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...
Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.
Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0237-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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