Combines masterful storytelling with fun and affection; deserves to be a children’s classic.
A girl does her best to cheer up when her beloved sailboat is washed away in the rain in this delightful children’s book.
Somewhere in the cold north “not very long ago,” a little girl—the jolly Bupbup—lives with her two cats, black and yellow, in her brick house next to the woods. Bupbup looks as jolly as her nature, with rosy fair skin, a round body and big round eyes, and red-orange hair that sticks straight up. But one day, “a very dreadful thing” happens. Heavy rains make the river rise so much that Bupbup’s sailboat floats away. Having no umbrella, she can’t retrieve it, and the cats are no help since they hate getting their feet wet. Afterward, Bupbup heads outdoors to splash around the river in her puddle boots, taking care not to step on any fish: “That would not be kind.” She discovers something hiding under a big tree and wonders if it’s a Twinkle—elusive but good-natured creatures. But instead, it’s her boat, which a thoughtful duck helps her disentangle from the branches. Bupbup, her cats, and the duck go for a nice sail, hoping to partake in a Twinkle tea party. In her debut book, Borrmann shows a light, deft hand and an agreeably old-fashioned tone, cozy but not sentimental. Bupbup’s cheerfulness and compassion together with the story’s humor are greatly appealing. Borrmann uses repetition well, such as the phrase “dreadful thing,” to build anticipation and create rhythm. The opening page shows Borrmann’s facility with verse as well as prose: “Twinkles are glee-hearted, / Just as pleasant as can be, / And you cannot fail to notice that / On Thursdays they take tea.” The kinetic, stylized illustrations (uncredited) are beguiling, composed with skewed proportions that nicely echo the text.
Combines masterful storytelling with fun and affection; deserves to be a children’s classic.Pub Date: May 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-228-82830-3
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
