A beautifully illustrated, uplifting tribute to Black girls and to the mothers who love them boundlessly.
Brought to life by Pinkney’s now-signature brushy, colorful illustrations with bold ink lines, this lyrical expression of hope opens with a mother holding her baby while the two gaze into each other’s eyes. The mother sees the ancestors looking back at her when she looks at her child. Impressed by her baby’s curiosity, the mother continues to support, love, and encourage her daughter as she takes her first steps, learns to bike, starts school, learns to read, and more. As the daughter develops strong self-confidence, the mother exhorts her to stand by her ideas and always speak truth. The mother expects her child to travel the world, and as she does so, to show kindness to others. The lines that often swirl around this brown-skinned girl suggest that she stays in perpetual motion, and the prominence of yellows, oranges, and reds that often accompany her image hint at her sunny disposition and positivity. When the mother can’t watch over her daughter, she is “trusting God / to keep Her eyes / on you.” In this illustration, a rayed, yellow celestial face with African features could be the sun or the mother or God—possibilities that may bring up interesting conversations about the worldview portrayed in this book. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 30.9% of actual size.)
A beautifully illustrated, uplifting tribute to Black girls and to the mothers who love them boundlessly. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5198-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.
In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.
Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250393975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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