It’s sweet and heartfelt, but it works better as a song than as a book.
A lullaby picture book about pet adoption.
While out for a walk, a child sees a stray dog being taken away in a van marked “animal shelter.” Thinking about the dog day and night, the child wonders if the dog was “born on a cold winter day” or if “somebody threw [it] away.” The child draws many pictures: of a sad dog in bad weather or a cage and of themself with a happy dog. After the child shows their parents the pictures, the whole family goes to the shelter to adopt the dog. The child assures the dog, “You didn't have no choice and you didn't get no vote, / When they dropped you off at the shelter, / All you had was your little fur coat, // But now you got somebody loves you.” In a note, Saint-Marie shares that she sings this song for all her animals upon welcoming them home. Read aloud, the refrain, “You got somebody loves you,” is extremely awkward; sheet music is appended for readers who wish to try singing. In Hodson’s illustrations, the narrator’s expressive face conveys emotion clearly, making readers feel sadness and love toward the abandoned dog. The child has brown skin, and their parents are an interracial couple.
It’s sweet and heartfelt, but it works better as a song than as a book. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77164-482-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Willems’ formula is still a winner.
The pigeon is back, and he is filthy!
Readers haven’t seen the pigeon for a couple of years, not since The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (2012), and apparently he hasn’t bathed in all that time. Per the usual routine, the bus driver (clad in shower cap and bathrobe) opens the story by asking readers to help convince the pigeon to take a bath. Though he’s covered in grime, the obstreperous bird predictably resists. He glares at readers and suggests that maybe they need baths. With the turn of the page, Willems anticipates readers’ energetic denials: The pigeon demands, “YEAH! When was the last time YOU had a bath?!” Another beat allows children to supply the answer. “Oh.” A trio of flies that find him repulsive (“P.U.!”) convinces him it’s time. One spread with 29 separate panels depicts the pigeon adjusting the bath (“Too wet!…Too cold.…Too reflective”) before the page turn reveals him jumping in with a spread-filling “SPLASH!” Readers accustomed to the pigeon formula will note that here the story breaks from its normal rhythms; instead of throwing a tantrum, the pigeon discovers what readers already know: “This is FUN!” All the elements are in place, including page backgrounds that modulate from dirty browns to fresh, clean colors and endpapers that bookend the story (including a very funny turnabout for the duckling, here a rubber bath toy).
Willems’ formula is still a winner. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9087-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A delightfully silly celebration of familial love.
A child in search of the best hugger takes a bedtime tour of the world’s most unusual embraces.
In the opening pages of this rhyming picture book, an unnamed narrator asks a curly-haired, tan-skinned child who they think gives the best hugs. At the narrator’s behest, the protagonist spends their bedtime routine receiving affection from a wacky cast of creatures, ranging from meerkats to porcupines to narwhals. These animals have a variety of body types, but even those with a lack of limbs still express their love; the seahorse, for example, gives the child a “smooch” right before bathtime, and a grinning cobra offers the child a “clinch,” wrapping itself around their leg. Although many of the animals prove to be more prickly than cozy—the narrator points out, for example, the sharpness of bird beaks and porcupine quills—even the snuggliest koalas and bears cannot compare to the best hug of all: a parent’s embrace right before bedtime. The use of second-person address combined with the protagonist’s beautifully illustrated facial expressions and the buoyant, clever lines of verse render this book a hilarious and whimsical ride sure to delight both children and the adults who read to them. The pictures and text work together to create a clear narrative arc for the protagonist, and though the ending is a bit predictable, it’s nevertheless a wonderful payoff. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A delightfully silly celebration of familial love. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5476-1236-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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