This preachy, pedestrian cautionary tale isn’t going to convince many children to change their ways. Simia, a young monkey, wants everything. But the flower she grabs on a tree branch turns out to be attached to a thorny cactus, a beautiful orange object is a snarling jaguar, a zigzag shape is a snake that “uncoiled itself and shot into the air” (say what?), a “coconut” turns out to be a wasp’s nest, and so on. Later, Simia picks a flower that wilts, snatches a pretty stone from playmates and throws it into the lake, then almost falls out of a tree reaching for the moon. Mother monkey hammers the lesson home: “ ‘Some things are for yourself, some things are for others, and some things . . . are for everyone to share. You don’t have to own things to enjoy them.’ ” Instantly, Simia is satisfied. Right. Walters (Are You There, Baby Bear?, 1999) sets her little monkey into a series of lush, if static, forest scenes. An also-ran next to such similarly themed books as Marcia Brown’s How, Hippo (1969) and Kate Banks’s Baboon (1997). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-56656-376-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
The voice may be adult, but the experience is recalled vividly enough to bring young readers along. (Picture book. 6-8)
Warm memories of visits to Grandpa’s house, laced with sentiment and sprinkled with Salish.
Campbell (Shi-shi-etko, also illustrated by LaFave, 2005) draws from childhood experiences to recapture the excitement of visiting her elder relative’s farm. With a gaggle of cousins, the young narrator explores grand-auntie’s old log yuxkn, climbs into the hayloft, feeds crabapples to a horse, gleefully pleases an irritated pig, rejects Grandpa’s pokerfaced offerings of “weird food”—“Don’t want no Rocky Mountain oysters. Don’t want liver or tripe, neither”—and ventures into the dusty storage room to see his World War II medals. LaFave’s cartoon illustrations, informally drawn and digitally colored in transparent washes, capture the exhilaration, sending four energetic youngsters in sneakers and short pants roaming through a succession of comfortably well-kept rural scenes. The lack of pronunciation guidance may cause non-Salish readers to stumble over some lines (“Our grand-aunties and grand-uncles call us kids schmém’i?t”), but the joy of being part of a large family gathering and romping about while the grownups chatter and laugh somewhere else will be familiar to a wide audience.
The voice may be adult, but the experience is recalled vividly enough to bring young readers along. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55498-084-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
The diminutive humans’ unhesitating generosity to one in need adds a warm glow to this gourmand’s delight.
A dismayed lad learns that 10 slices of pizza, 33 jars of peanut butter and 200 cookies are only hors d’oeuvres for a peckish giant. What to do?
Looking decidedly woebegone in Nielsen’s very simple, graphic-style illustrations, the towering giant that silently appears in the backyard sports a reversible sign: “Food” on one side, “Please” on the other. With repeated choruses of “Seriously, you aren’t going to believe this,” and “It’s back to the kitchen for me,” the well-intentioned young narrator nearly empties his astonishingly well-stocked fridge. (His dog, Cowgirl, provides a running side commentary: “That’s one thirsty giant.”) Until, at last, Mom steps in and sets to work concocting a “Ginormous Blueberry Muffin,” “Mega-Pigs in Blankets” and like oversized dishes—all of which are provided with reasonably nutritious “Recipes for a hungry giant (or 8 little kids)” on a flimsy detachable flier. Besides the aforementioned signboard, the sparse but well-designed moveable parts include a pull-up giant on the front cover, a swimming pool filled with chocolate milk that’s slurped up thanks to a pull tab and a big climactic pop-up of the now-smiling giant contemplating a table filled with properly scaled chow.
The diminutive humans’ unhesitating generosity to one in need adds a warm glow to this gourmand’s delight. (Pop-up. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7611-5752-6
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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