A noodle story with an Oriental setting, this is something like the old joke about Mohammed going to the mountain. Ming Lo and his wife, however, "move the mountain" by walking backwards away from it. This is after they have suffered from living at the foot of the mountain with no sun, rocks falling through the roof, and rain falling through the holes the rocks make. So Ming Lo's wife demands that he move the mountain and sends him to the wise man for advice. When the wise man's first three suggestions fail (push the mountain with a felled tree, scare it away with noise, please it with cakes), he finally advises the pair to dismantle their house, pick up the pieces, and do a "mountain-moving dance" by putting each foot, in turn, behind the other "for many hours." Once this is accomplished, Ming Lo and his wife rebuild, confident that they have moved the mountain. The pictures mix a recognizable Oriental style and remote serenity with Lobel's cream-puff colors. The anecdote doesn't make you laugh like an earthier, folk-type silly tale would, but there's a nice touch of drollery, in keeping with the straight-faced telling, in Lobel's depiction of the wise man, who becomes more languid with each visit, and more encased in a smokescreen of swirls from his own pipe.
Pub Date: April 12, 1982
ISBN: 0688109950
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1982
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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