In this eloquent paean to chairs as much more than just places to sit, a multigenerational group of neighbors comes together on a broad urban lawn to perch on or around an array of folding chairs, overstuffed living room furniture, and everything in between, as children describe their chairs as toys, play environments, conveyances, imagination stretchers, and comfort objects. “My chair is squishy . . . It eats quarters and trucks and colored pencils and my arm and my leg and my brother and my bicycle.” “My chair rocks.” (It’s a rocking chair.) “Mine rolls.” (A wheelchair.) “When the world is too big, my chair is just right.” Young viewers will pore over the actively posed figures and sometimes-surprising details in DePalma’s increasingly populous scenes—and also wonder about the large wrapped package around which everyone is gathering. What is it? A bouncy baby chair, just right for the bouncy baby who puts in an appearance at the end. In a tradition stretching from Ruth Krauss’s A Hole Is to Dig (1952) to Elizabeth Scanlon’s A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes (p. 184), here’s another “just right” invitation to see the uncommon possibilities in commonplace objects. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-439-44421-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004
At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84880-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
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