by Alison Murray ; illustrated by Alison Murray ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 10, 2014
Flawed internal logic mars this slight tale.
Following One Two That’s My Shoe (2012), Murray again riffs on a traditional nursery rhyme, keeping its cadences while focusing on a day in the life of Zack and his faithful dog, Rufus.
Rufus follows Zack to school, where he romps with a small group of ethnically diverse classmates as they march in a band, play dress-up, bicycle, scooter and skateboard (sans helmets), and paint at easels. There’s nary an adult in sight, and most of the analog clocks that anchor the day’s events (from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) have no numbers, leaving the time-telling to grown-up readers. Murray’s digital art employs a palette ranging from flat, retro pastels to bright primary colors. The children sport stylized hair and clothing, with black dots for eyes. The antics of shaggy, yellow Rufus earn him splotches of blue, green and pink, as well as some glued-on fallen leaves. Oddly, large swaths of time elapse between some adjacent spreads. Zack and Rufus arrive home at 5 p.m.—three hours after leaving the classroom for the leaf pile. Since the day’s passing hours are one of the story’s themes, such unexplained time lapses are unfortunate.
Flawed internal logic mars this slight tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6826-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Share your opinion of this book
More by Emmanuelle Figueras
BOOK REVIEW
by Emmanuelle Figueras ; illustrated by Claire De Gastold ; translated by Alison Murray
BOOK REVIEW
by Alison Murray ; illustrated by Alison Murray
BOOK REVIEW
by Alison Murray ; illustrated by Alison Murray
by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2020
Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back.
Little Nutbrown Hare ventures out into the wide world and comes back with a new companion in this sequel to Guess How Much I Love You (1994).
Big Nutbrown Hare is too busy, so after asking permission, Little Nutbrown Hare scampers off over the rolling meadow to play by himself. After discovering that neither his shadow nor his reflection make satisfactory playmates (“You’re only another me!”), Little Nutbrown comes to Cloudy Mountain…and meets “Someone real!” It’s a white bunny who introduces herself as Tipps. But a wonderful round of digging and building and chasing about reaches an unexpected end with a game of hide-and-seek, because both hares hide! After waiting a long time to be found, Little Nutbrown Hare hops on home in disappointment, wondering whether he’ll ever see Tipps again. As it turns out, it doesn’t take long to find out, since she has followed him. “Now, where on earth did she come from?” wonders Big Nutbrown. “Her name is Tipps,” Little Nutbrown proudly replies, “and she’s my friend.” Jeram’s spacious, pale-toned, naturalistic outdoor scenes create a properly idyllic setting for this cozy development in a tender child-caregiver relationship—which hasn’t lost a bit of its appealing intimacy in the more than 25 years since its first appearance. As in the first, Big Nutbrown Hare is ungendered, facilitating pleasingly flexible readings.
Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1747-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More by Sam McBratney
BOOK REVIEW
by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir
BOOK REVIEW
by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram
BOOK REVIEW
by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram
More About This Book
IN THE NEWS
by Julie Rowan-Zoch ; illustrated by Julie Rowan-Zoch ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021
Animated and educational.
A hare and a ground squirrel banter about the differences between related animals that are often confused for one another.
Jack is “no Flopsy, Mopsy, or Cottontail,” but a “H-A-R-E, hare!” Like sheep and goats, or turtles and tortoises, rabbits and hares may look similar, but hares are bigger, their fur changes color in the winter, and they are born with their eyes wide open. As the ground squirrel (not to be mistaken for a chipmunk (even though Jack cheekily calls it “Chippie”) and Jack engage in playful discussion about animals, a sneaky coyote prowls after them through the Sonoran Desert. This picture book conveys the full narrative in spirited, speech-bubbled dialogue set on expressive illustrations of talking animals. Dark outlines around the characters make their shapes pop against the softly blended colors of the desert backgrounds. Snappy back-and-forth paired with repetition and occasional rhyme enhances the story’s appeal as a read-aloud. As the story progresses, the colors of the sky shift from dawn to dusk, providing subtle, visual bookends for the narrative. One page of backmatter offers a quick guide to eight easily confused pairs, and a second turns a subsequent exploration of the book into a seek-and-find of 15 creatures (and one dessert) hidden in the desert. Unfortunately, while most of the creatures from the seek-and-find appear in poses that match the illustrations in the challenge, not all of them are consistently represented. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 53.3% of actual size.)
Animated and educational. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-12506-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Share your opinion of this book
More by Bobby Moynihan
BOOK REVIEW
by Bobby Moynihan ; illustrated by Julie Rowan-Zoch
BOOK REVIEW
by Tom Lichtenheld ; illustrated by Julie Rowan-Zoch
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.