A sweet, love-filled lullaby with a wonderfully diverse group of mothers and kids.
Moments between mothers and children are celebrated in this debut rhyming picture book.
A brown-skinned, curly-haired mother sings to a bundled baby. A mother wearing a blue hijab gazes at her child with love. A White, blond-haired mother croons as she rocks her baby in a crib. Mothers from many different cultures and walks of life are united by their love for their kids, who range from infants to toddlers. Even on pages where there is conflict—“Keep, Mama, keep / me close to your heart. / Our bond will be tested, / but won’t come apart”—the love between mother and child is clear. With Delgado’s soft rhymes and short stanzas, the lulling patterns of the lyrics make this a perfect bedtime read-aloud for young children. Khalatyan’s illustrations are a treat for the eyes. They feature themed colors that unite the backgrounds and clothing, portraying mothers and children with a wide range of skin tones. All the parents perform acts of caring, and most of them share a similar body shape. There’s the implication that one mother is teaching her child sign language, showing her little one the sign for more. The contrast between the text and the bold backgrounds feels tailored to the youngest lap readers, who may trace the details around the words—music notes in many cases but also various patterns lifted from clothing—with small fingers as their parents read them the enjoyable story.
A sweet, love-filled lullaby with a wonderfully diverse group of mothers and kids.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 9798986466590
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quiet Trail Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.
In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.
Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250393975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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