A sweet, beautifully illustrated story for families.
Children learn how God gives parents babies in Valverde’s (The Grumpy Frog, 2013, etc.) picture book.
Youngsters wondering how they came into this world will get an answer in this short work. First, Mommy and Daddy ask God for a baby, says the narrator; then, when they are sleeping, God takes a little piece of each of their hearts and fuses them together in heaven to make a baby. After choosing physical features and personality traits, God wraps the baby up into a tiny, unique package that he puts inside Mommy’s belly. When the baby is born, the narrator says, parents have a gift from God, “a little angel from heaven.” Valverde offers mesmerizing, colorful full-page illustrations that depict a somewhat diverse array of families (although each has both a mother and a father): they wear jeans, headscarves, or kimonos, and they reside in grass-roof huts, igloos, or pastoral farms. One speaks Spanish, another has a menorah on its table. Meanwhile, a fair-skinned, glowing God creates babies in a star-filled universe. Each illustration features quaint details, such as ducklings in a pond, cherry blossom trees, a pair of slumbering huskies, or a pretty, decorated birthday cake. Clear, simple first-person language accompanies these images, and together they reveal a message that toddlers will understand easily: they are all special gifts from God that make their parents very happy. The author includes three blank spaces that parents may fill in to personalize the tale with such information as how long Mommy was pregnant, the child’s birthday, and his or her name. Although the book contains no explicit details about the reproductive process, parents may appreciate the symbolism of lines such as, “God put the two pieces of their hearts together and used them to make me,” which are certainly more eloquent than the old stork myth.
A sweet, beautifully illustrated story for families.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-943718-00-9
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Golden Seed Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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