This may make children think twice about splashing, but hopefully it won’t make them run screaming from the sidewalk every...
A tiny tot likes puddles, but with so many things beneath the surface it might not be wise to splash in them.
A white child (friends of other races join in group shots and background vignettes) with a mop of shaggy brown hair and red rubber boots is about to step into a puddle. On every page, readers can see what lies underneath. Sometimes it is fanciful: pirates or bearded merpeople playing water polo. But other times it just may be a crocodile waiting to snap (the crocs have dinner napkins comically tied around their necks, but their wide, toothy grins are still a bit menacing). One time the child even falls into a deep puddle (here the book requires that readers turn it 90 degrees to appreciate the puddle’s depth): “You’ll sink and sink / and go straight down— / straight down through / the planet … / tumbling past the / sandstone, / the fossils, / and the / granite.” The most dreaded puddle of all is the one that contains “the BIG BAD rubber ducky.” Avoid that one at all costs. Debut author Faulks falters on the rhythm and scansion at times and relies on the occasional sluggish word choice or two, but he doesn’t lack in imagination. Contrary to the title, however, none of the puddles—or even any of the puddle-stomping boots—are muddy at all. Every preschooler in storytime will point that out.
This may make children think twice about splashing, but hopefully it won’t make them run screaming from the sidewalk every time it rains. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-627-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world.
A quiet book for putting young children to bed in a state of snowy wonder.
The magic of the north comes alive in a picture book featuring Inuit characters. In the sky at nighttime, snow falls fast. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a raven roosts atop a tall building. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a mother’s delicate song to her child arises like a gentle breeze.” With the repetition of the simple, titular refrain, the author envisions what happens in a small town at night: Young children see their breath in the cold; a hunter returns on his snowmobile; the stars dazzle in the night sky. A young mother rocks her baby to sleep with a song and puts the tot down with a trio of stuffed animals: hare, polar bear, seal. The picture book evokes a feeling of peace as the street lamps, northern lights, and moon illuminate the snow. The illustrations are noteworthy for the way they meld the old world with what it looks like to be a modern Indigenous person: A sled dog and fur-lined parkas combine easily with the frame houses, a pickup truck, power lines, and mobile-hung crib. By introducing Indigenous characters in an unremarkably familiar setting, the book reaches children who don’t always see themselves in an everyday context.
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77227-238-3
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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