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DID YOU TAKE THE B FROM MY _OOK?

From the Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! series

_ravo! (Picture book. 3-7)

A metafictive picture _ook with playful typography to _oot.

The opening text directly addresses readers, listing some of the narrator’s favorite things without ever visually depicting said narrator. In fact, there are no pictures at all in the first few double-page spreads, only text. The first page reads, in part: “I have favorite things. They are bats and beaches and bread and bushes and bulldozers.” On the next page readers are invited to say “bububububbobobobobbrrrrrrrrr.” The final statement indicates a chill in the air, and the narrator sneezes in the next spread with a swirling “Aaaaacchhhoooooo!!!!” across the pages. This instigates the titular premise: the sneeze apparently does away with all b’s, and the text is written accordingly while accompanying pictures depict the b-free objects. “I love my _ed,” reads the text next to a line drawing of a bed, for example. After several such spreads accompanied by pictures that cumulatively add the b-free things together in a silly scene of a _eetle, _utterfly, and a couple _ulls jumping on the _ed, the narrator implores readers to call for the letter b to “come _ack!” And back it comes for a celebratory ending. Throughout, bold, graphic typography provides cues for tone in reading aloud, while the simple digital illustrations add to ample metafictive humor.

_ravo! (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: May 23, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-316-43441-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017

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CINDERELLA

From the Once Upon a World series

A nice but not requisite purchase.

A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.

Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.

A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017

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THE NIGHT IS YOURS

Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children.

On hot summer nights, Amani’s parents permit her to go outside and play in the apartment courtyard, where the breeze is cool and her friends are waiting.

The children jump rope to the sounds of music as it floats through a neighbor’s window, gaze at stars in the night sky, and play hide-and-seek in the moonlight. It is in the moonlight that Amani and her friends are themselves found by the moon, and it illumines the many shades of their skin, which vary from light tan to deep brown. In a world where darkness often evokes ideas of evil or fear, this book is a celebration of things that are dark and beautiful—like a child’s dark skin and the night in which she plays. The lines “Show everyone else how to embrace the night like you. Teach them how to be a night-owning girl like you” are as much an appeal for her to love and appreciate her dark skin as they are the exhortation for Amani to enjoy the night. There is a sense of security that flows throughout this book. The courtyard is safe and homelike. The moon, like an additional parent, seems to be watching the children from the sky. The charming full-bleed illustrations, done in washes of mostly deep blues and greens, make this a wonderful bedtime story.

Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: July 2, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-525-55271-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019

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