An entertainingly helpful approach to teaching kids what they all should know: Use a tissue.
This children’s picture book explains in humorous kid terms why good nasal hygiene is important and how to practice it.
“Yes, boogers are gross,” admits this book, but they’re not just that: “This special mucus has quite a big job. / It slurps tiny germs and makes them a blob.” But where do they go when they leave your nose? In rhyming couplets, the book presents a variety of gross scenarios for how young children tend to deal with boogers: wiped on a sleeve, deposited beneath a chair, smeared on one’s face, wiped onto a dog, shoved up inside a nostril, and worse…disgustingly worse. (Readers with weak stomachs may need to skip a page or two.) What’s the problem, besides grossness? Boogers are filled with germs, so to avoid spreading sickness, children should use a tissue and throw it away properly into the trash. Not only does this help people, the boogers like it: “Your boogers work hard / And they do their best. / So please grant their wish / For soft, comfy rest.” A glossary is included. In his debut book, Andrews addresses a legitimate problem and helps kids understand the why behind hygiene rules—not in a scolding way but with humor, jokes, and silliness. His rhyming couplets scan well with an appealing rhythm. Long’s (Terrible Tom & Mabel, 2014, etc.) illustrations are funny, colorful, and all too expressive for some readers but will appeal to most kids.
An entertainingly helpful approach to teaching kids what they all should know: Use a tissue.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-93447-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Black Swan Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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