A cautionary tale with a sneaky, entertaining protagonist.
An impatient girl gets stung by jellyfish in this picture book.
“One fine day in Jamaica,” a White girl named Antoinette and her parents visit the beach. Her parents say: “Don’t swim too far out, follow the rules and DO NOT GET INTO ANY TROUBLE.” But Antoinette disregards the advice and swims to a nearby platform where people are lining up to dive. She wants to perform the “biggest cannonball the beach had ever seen” and grows antsy waiting her turn. Antoinette slyly cuts in line and plunges into the ocean where she is “slapped and stung” by jellyfish. On the platform, the dark-skinned lifeguard points to a sign warning, “Danger: stinging jellyfish ahead,” and arranges for a boat to take him and Antoinette, now covered in welts, ashore. But Antoinette’s debacle hasn’t deterred her mischievous spirit. She approaches her parents covered in kelp, giving her a monsterlike appearance. Antoinette’s mother screams in fear of the “jellyfish monster.” Her father smells calamine lotion (ostensibly worn by Antoinette to soothe her welts). He laughs on realizing the creature is his daughter. Using engaging language and kid-friendly rhymes (“Plump and lumpy. Shiny and brilliant. JELLYFISH! They seemed to reach out…wanting to eat her like a nice roast beef dish”), McGregor’s lively story offers essential reminders. Antoinette’s plight underscores the importance of behaving appropriately and listening to others. Shira’s drawn illustrations are simple but effective, depicting diverse, cartoonlike characters and bright, beachy scenes.
A cautionary tale with a sneaky, entertaining protagonist.Pub Date: March 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-52-558709-2
Page Count: 20
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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