An enthusiastic but uneven tale, with a greater focus on good behavior than candy-cane forests.
Candyland meets Barney & Friends in this debut picture book about a loving family living on a farm.
The Pops are much like any other family except that they grow wild-cherry lollipops in their orchard and have chickens that lay marshmallows on their farm. Barbieri takes the reader through Soda and Coco Pop’s first day at school, with the supportive presence of their parents, Lolly and Cherry. Despite the Candyland-esque theme, sweets don’t play a large role in the story. Through seven “text messages” interspersed in the book, young readers are invited to learn the meanings of words like “adopted,” “harvest,” and “unique,” which are connected to such positive commands as “Be considerate!” “Be happy!” and “Be smart!” These lessons about appropriate behavior deliver an important message. But they are not always directly linked to the story and at times feel forced and out of place. Likewise, the stock illustrations, though clean and colorful with a diverse human cast, are mostly plain and sparse in detail, failing to convey the fantastical nature of the farm. The book veers from depicting each scene word for word with split panels to leaving much of the scenery and action to the imagination. And though Soda is shaped like a bottle of soda and Cherry spreads rainbow jam on a slice of bread, the Pops’ world is almost too ordinary.
An enthusiastic but uneven tale, with a greater focus on good behavior than candy-cane forests.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4808-5019-4
Page Count: 21
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
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
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