The very successful picture-book team of Joosse and Lavallee have previously explored mother love in Mama, Do You Love Me? (1991) and father love in Papa, Do You Love Me? (2005). They now visit grandmother love in this story of a Hawaiian grandmother and her granddaughter, Beautiful. Hawaiian words are sprinkled throughout the text with a glossary appended. (There’s also a string game with instructions in the back of the book.) The now-familiar formula makes for a sweet offering that some may find endearing but many will deem cloying and sticky. The similes seem forced: Beautiful has “breath as sweet as breadfruit pudding” and skin as “soft as kappa cloth.” And here Lavallee’s signature style—splitting her characters’ faces, with one-half light-skinned and the other dark—is somehow disturbing. Without the graceful symmetry of previous efforts, it’s as if half a face is attached to a profile, with an ultimately confusing result. Die-hard fans of this team may appreciate the offering, but most will find it redundant and/or disconcerting. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: March 26, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8118-5815-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
Charming and spirited.
Dynamic visual design distinguishes this tale of sibling conflict in an immigrant family.
Running home from school, Rubina tells Ami (mom) the thrilling news of a birthday-party invitation. This concept’s new to Ami, but the real problem is younger sister Sana, who demands to attend as well. Ami agrees. Pouting all the way, Rubina takes Sana, who not only disrupts the games but eats both her own and Rubina’s big red lollipop party favor. Blackall’s peppy watercolor-and-pencil illustrations hum with vibrancy and a wonderful sense of children in constant motion. Every page shows fresh composition and scale. When the justifiably resentful Rubina chases Sana around the house, the pair of wee figures shows up eight times on that spread, racing from spot to spot like Hilary Knight’s Eloise. Then Sana receives an invitation herself and Ami almost makes her take even-younger sister Maryam along—but Rubina’s intervention prevents that, and Sana brings Rubina a big green lollipop in gratitude. They’re friends now, though it’s unknown whether the invitations that Rubina stopped receiving due to Sana’s antics ever recommence.
Charming and spirited. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-670-06287-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2010
Skip this well-meaning but poorly executed celebration.
Children point out the things they love about their fathers.
“Daddy is always kind. He gives us support and shelter when things go wrong.” A child with a skinned knee (and downed ice cream cone) gets a bandage and loving pat from Daddy (no shelter is visible, but the child’s concerned sibling sweetly extends their own cone). Daddy’s a storyteller, a magician, supportive, loyal, silly, patient, and he knows everything. A die-cut hole pierces most pages, positioned so that the increasingly smaller holes to come can be seen through it; what it represents in each scene varies, and it does so with also-variable success. The bland, nonrhyming, inconsistent text does little to attract or keep attention, though the die cuts might (until they fall victim to curious fingers). The text also confusingly mixes first-person singular and plural, sometimes on the same page: “Daddy is like a gardener. He lovingly cares for us and watches us grow. I’m his pride and joy!” Even as the text mixes number the illustrations mix metaphors. This particular gardener daddy is pictured shampooing a child during bathtime. Más’ cartoon illustrations are sweet if murkily interpretive, affection clearly conveyed. Troublingly, though, each father and his child(ren) seem to share the same racial presentation and hair color (sometimes even hairstyle!), shutting out many different family constellations. Más does, however, portray several disabilities: children and adults wearing glasses, a child with a cochlear implant, and another using a wheelchair.
Skip this well-meaning but poorly executed celebration. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12305-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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