Should delight little ones with rhythmic and repetitive words and actions.
An Inuit child’s flight from a bumblebee sends them running across Nunavut.
Happily playing on the playground, Apita is startled by the buzzing of the bee. Frightened, Apita cries, “Qaariaq, qaariaq, qaariaq,” which translates to “Don’t come near me!” This determined bee follows Apita from one community to the next as the kid, clad in a puffy red-and-white–checked coat, runs and runs. Three days later, Apita reaches the town of Igloolik, but the bee is there, buzzing, “Apita, wait for me!” Apita does not, running from the unwelcome insect for five more days. When Apita reaches Rankin Inlet, they stop, puffing from the effort. The bee has followed the child again, but this time Apita has stopped long enough to hear the bee’s protestation: “Apita, I won’t hurt you!” Apita finally understands, responding, “Come here, dear little bee.…I’m not afraid of you!” Finally Apita understands that they’ve been running away from an energetic playmate. Inuk singer/songwriter Han adapts her song “Qaariaq” for this brief picture book, incorporating lots of repetition that will lend the story to reading aloud. (Readers who do not speak Inuktitut will be grateful for the glossary and pronunciation guide on the final page.) Peturs’ soft line-and-color illustrations depict a treeless landscape dotted with sprays of small purple flowers, likely purple saxifrage. A large red school building greets Apita in Igloolik and an inuksuk in Rankin Inlet, embracing both modernity and tradition. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Should delight little ones with rhythmic and repetitive words and actions. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-772-27300-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug.
What to do when you’re a prickly animal hankering for a hug? Why, find another misfit animal also searching for an embrace!
Sweet but “tricky to hug” little Hedgehog is down in the dumps. Wandering the forest, Hedgehog begs different animals for hugs, but each rejects them. Readers will giggle at their panicked excuses—an evasive squirrel must suddenly count its three measly acorns; a magpie begins a drawn-out song—but will also be indignant on poor hedgehog’s behalf. Hedgehog has the appealingly pink-cheeked softness typical of Dunbar’s art, and the gentle watercolors are nonthreatening, though she also captures the animals’ genuine concern about being poked. A wise owl counsels the dejected hedgehog that while the prickles may frighten some, “there’s someone for everyone.” That’s when Hedgehog spots a similarly lonely tortoise, rejected due to its “very hard” shell but perfectly matched for a spiky new friend. They race toward each other until the glorious meeting, marked with swoony peach swirls and overjoyed grins. At this point, readers flip the book to hear the same gloomy tale from the tortoise’s perspective until it again culminates in that joyous hug, a book turn that’s made a pleasure with thick creamy paper and solid binding.
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-571-34875-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Good bedtime reading.
Only polar bears are allowed on Polar Bear Island, until Kirby, a friendly, creative penguin, arrives on the scene.
On the verso of the first double-page spread, large white lettering proclaims against an azure sky: “Polar Bear Island was peaceful and predictable. Parker, the mayor, planned to keep it that way.” Below, Parker—paint can in left paw—can be seen facing his sign: “Welcome to Polar Bear Island. No Others Allowed.” On the recto, Kirby floats into view on an ice floe, with hat, scarf, and overstuffed suitcase. When Kirby arrives, Parker grudgingly allows her an overnight stay. However, she soon proves her worth to the other bears; she has invented Flipper Slippers, which keep extremities warm and reverse from skates to snowshoes. Now Kirby is allowed to stay and help the bears make their own Flipper Slippers. When her family shows up with more inventions, Parker feels compelled to give them a week. (Presumably, the penguins have made the 12,430-mile-trip from the South Pole to the North Pole, characterized merely as “a long journey.”) A minor crisis permanently changes Parker’s attitudes about exclusivity. The text is accessible and good fun to read aloud. The weakness of the ostensible theme of granting welcome to newcomers lies in the fact that all the newcomers are immediately, obviously useful to the bears. The cartoonlike, scratchboard-ish graphics are lighthearted and full of anthropomorphic touches.
Good bedtime reading. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2870-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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