This “little round house” is a ger, a Mongolian movable house used by the nomadic people of the steppes as they move from camp to camp with the changing seasons. Jilu, the infant narrator, tells the story of his first year from birth to his birthday the following summer. Babies may not be able to speak, but this boy provides the readers with the details of traditional Mongolian life in such an ingenuous way that the conceit works: “When my grandfather came with his long, long pipe and long, long beard and gruff voice, I was so scared, I cried.” The folk-art–style gouache paintings show the home furnishings, the clothing, the animals, the landscapes, the handmade toys and the seasons of the year, including the New Year, Tsagaan Sar, held in winter but heralding the arrival of the soon-to-come spring. Perhaps the first picture book from a Mongolian author/illustrator to arrive in North America, this will appeal to children who are a little older than the baby and can fully understand the text. A unique look at a culture unknown to most. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-88899-934-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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The characters in Wood's sunny, simple pen and watercolor illustrations fairly bounce off the page in this exuberant cumulative rhyme. Bloomers-topmost, Silly Sally goes to town ``walking backwards, upside down''; along the way, she meets a silly pig, a silly dog, a silly loon, and a silly sheep—until, finally, Neddy Buttercup (``walking forwards, right side up'') comes along and manages to get the whole crew into town in a frenzy of tickles, grins, and flying limbs. A surefire read-aloud. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-15-274428-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1992
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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