Validates a child’s anger but doesn’t reflect on it.
When Zadie’s family ignores her, she decides to run away from home.
She packs her bag with her most important possessions, including a snorkel, binoculars, and a piece of toast. Just when she is ready to leave, though, she realizes that she’s missing something: one rainbow stripey sock. Zadie sets off to find it, confronting the family members who made her angry. Jack—who appears to be her brother—hasn’t seen the sock. Maggie—who might be Zadie’s sister—tells Zadie she doesn’t have the sock because “Stripes are not cool.” At one point, she thinks she finds her dog chewing the sock, but when she realizes that the animal is ruining her brother’s shirt and not her sock, she walks away. Dad is too busy working in the garden to help, and Mom is too busy making a phone call. Zadie’s anger builds and builds, and she is more and more sure that running away is the right decision. That is, until she finally finds her younger sibling playing with her sock—and remembers why family isn’t all bad. Although Zadie’s anger is both accessible and refreshing, she does not seem to reflect on how her interactions with family members border on selfish and rude. The third-person narratorial voice deftly balances sincerity and humor. Illustrations depict brown-skinned Zadie’s family as interracial, with a brown-skinned mom and White-presenting dad.
Validates a child’s anger but doesn’t reflect on it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7360319-2-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penny Candy
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
A worthy message wrapped up in a playful romp.
A romp about saying “I don’t know.”
An apartment building full of cartoonlike creatures shown interacting through their windows (a clever illustrative decision) evokes the lively life of urban living. When one neighbor asks another (via the window) to wake them up in “20 coconuts,” the neighbor agrees but then admits to himself that he doesn’t know what that means—something that bothers him because he is known for being a know-it-all; in fact, he comes from a family of know-it-alls. Ah, pressure! The know-it-all gets himself into a tizzy, cleans his ears and finds a sock and a chicken, consults “Phoney” (his cellphone), and even gets his brain washed by Wally’s Wash Works. If this all sounds extremely silly and somewhat chaotic, it is—which means kids will probably love it. Eventually, he wakes up his neighbor with his yelling (right on time, apparently) but admits to her he doesn’t know what 20 coconuts means. She offers to explain, but then he says he has to be somewhere in “11 bananas,” throwing her into confusion. The energetic (some may say frenzied) tone is amplified by illustrations that have lots going on, with various characters talking in dialogue bubbles to each other, but the message itself comes across as a little light until an explanatory note from the “brains” spells it out—it’s OK to say you don’t know. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A worthy message wrapped up in a playful romp. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31196-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Like marshmallow on top of caramel.
Little Bear loves everything about Christmas, but there’s one thing he loves even more.
The Bear household is busily getting ready for Christmas. Mommy Bear wraps and bakes; Daddy Bear brings home a humongous tree; Little Bear exults in it all. With each new Christmas tradition that’s introduced, from opening Christmas cards to receiving carolers, Little Bear sings a song that celebrates it. “I love ornaments, and garland, and lights on a string, / candy canes, stockings—and all of the things / that make Christmas perfect—oh, yes, I do! / But the thing that I love more than Christmas is—” But before Little Bear can complete his rhyme, each time he is interrupted by a new element of Christmas to celebrate. Since that terminal rhyme is always set up with one that ends with an “oo” sound, readers will not be surprised in the least when Mommy and Daddy interrupt him one last time with an emphatic “YOU!” It’s all so uber-idealized readers may find themselves gagging on the syrup—it even seems to get at Hattie: Daddy Bear’s smug “What an exceedingly talented family we are” has a whiff of irony to it. Warnes’ cartoon bears inhabit a cozy, middle-class home; while the carolers are clothed, the Bear family is not, but readers may notice a white marking on Mommy Bear’s chest where a string of pearls might rest.
Like marshmallow on top of caramel. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68010-208-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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