Sentimental, yes, but a refreshing dose of real emotion among hundreds of apps that are little more than wind-up digital...
An unexpectedly poignant emotional punch to the gut, an illustrator's tribute to his father featuring a bear and his dad is touching and memorable.
With pages that mix realistic vistas and anthrpomorphized animals with more surreal background touches, author/illustrator Waijers captures the life cycle of a young bear and his loving father. "He was already my best friend when I was born," he writes, on a page featuring the baby bear being cradled by the new parent. The bear grows up, still advised and supported by the father, and, "when his time was up," the father bear ascends a set of piano keys leading to the sky. While some of the stylistic choices seem idiosyncratically personal, there's enough interaction and animation to keep the story from being an emotion-dump. The cleanly drawn, colorful, slightly Disneyesque characters range from the bears themselves to insects, birds and, oddly, fish that appear in the margins. Both they and some of the scenery move and make sounds, making the pages pleasingly lively. While the main story is simple and conveys a message of love and appreciation for a father, parents reading with their children may be most moved by a set of photos of Waijers as a child with his father as well as a tearjerking postscript describing the inspiration for the story.
Sentimental, yes, but a refreshing dose of real emotion among hundreds of apps that are little more than wind-up digital toys. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: June 17, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Apps of All Nations
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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