Mirthful artwork and friendly rhymes get readers all toasty with warm, good feelings.
A baker delivers a loaf from the oven to his family’s kitchen, where the bread is eaten, slice by slice, through the course of one day.
Cheery acrylic artwork shows a happy clan with perky parenthesis-shaped smiles, apple cheeks and dot eyes both enjoying their mealtime bread and giving extra morsels to dogs, ducks, birds and mice. Charming portraiture, simple linework and sunny yellow backgrounds connote the warm, pure pleasure of a fine, crusty loaf. Even small children will appreciate how this family values their food, how they let none go to waste and how they share with even the smallest creatures. These animal bread lovers give thanks on joyous, full-bleed, double-page spreads with banner-sized capital letters (“HOORAY—TWEET, TWEET—FOR BREAD!”). Their hoorays offer a nice bounce and a rewarding page turn, buoying occasionally trite rhymes that surface elsewhere. The quirky, conversational language does speak directly to children, however, and the last stanza (about two runaway slices) directs little readers to turn the page for the final food festivity: A gleeful gang of smiley-faced fridge foods (beans, bacon, tomato, cheese, egg, banana, lettuce) run on hind legs to meet up with the missing slices, ready to celebrate and shout HOORAY!
Mirthful artwork and friendly rhymes get readers all toasty with warm, good feelings. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: April 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6311-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The action of this rhymed and humorous tale centers upon a mouse who "took a stroll/through the deep dark wood./A fox saw the mouse/and the mouse looked good." The mouse escapes being eaten by telling the fox that he is on his way to meet his friend the gruffalo (a monster of his imagination), whose favorite food is roasted fox. The fox beats a hasty retreat. Similar escapes are in store for an owl and a snake; both hightail it when they learn the particulars: tusks, claws, terrible jaws, eyes orange, tongue black, purple prickles on its back. When the gruffalo suddenly materializes out of the mouse's head and into the forest, the mouse has to think quick, declaring himself inedible as the "scariest creature in the deep dark wood," and inviting the gruffalo to follow him to witness the effect he has on the other creatures. When the gruffalo hears that the mouse's favorite food is gruffalo crumble, he runs away. It's a fairly innocuous tale, with twists that aren't sharp enough and treachery that has no punch. Scheffler's funny scenes prevent the suspense from culminating; all his creatures, predator and prey, are downright lovable. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: June 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2386-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1999
SEEN & HEARD
Momo longed to carry the blue umbrella and wear the bright red rubber boots she had been given on her third birthday. But day after day Indian summer continued. Momo tried to tell mother she needed to carry the umbrella to nursery school because the sunshine bothered her eyes. But Mother didn't let her use the umbrella then or when she said the wind bothered her. At last, though, rain fell on the city pavements and Momo carried her umbrella and wore her red boots to school. One feels the urgency of Momo's wish. The pictures are full of the city's moods and the child's joy in a rainy day.
Pub Date: March 1, 1958
ISBN: 978-0-14-050240-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1958
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