A tad gooey, but with enough googly to tame the treacle factor.
Inspired by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a lullaby of love from the mother to the rumbustious child.
Adderson gets similarly emotional with her counting of the ways, from the moment she gathers steam—“Two, your eyes, / googly, bright”—to the rapture of “Seven has to be / your elbows and knees, / dimpled and scaly, / more places to kiss!” But there are clues that this is no gushfest. “Eight is your sturdy hump, / small now, but it will be big”; the green-pajama–clad is playing at being a dragon. The sudden shifts in tone—a swooning “so perfect!” to the ridiculous “your chins are Four. / Four chins!”—allow the mother’s unconditional love to range freely. Leist’s artwork has the clear lines of a hand drawing and the muted, pastel shimmer of a light silk screen. The colors often bleed beyond their borders, lending a dreamy quality to the proceedings, and a company of small details—a peekaboo cat that looks like an owl, a host of Band-Aids covering elbows and knees, and, count ’em, four chins indeed above a “drum-tum tummy”—slow the free-verse poem’s momentum and introduce the possible notion of day’s end.
A tad gooey, but with enough googly to tame the treacle factor. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-55498-708-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
The soft cadence of the rhyming verses and the joyous pictures of the elephants will make this a bedtime favorite
When a baby elephant is born, “wrinkled and gray,” not just the herd, but the whole world rejoices, from morning to night.
From the proud Mama to the grand Aunts, from the “fertile and firm” Earth to the ancient Banyan tree, everyone and everything around the new baby elephant joins in celebration and care for the Baby “who warms the hearts of the world today.” Glowing with warm golds and greens and shadowed with deep blues and greens, the gorgeous artwork lushly illuminates the day of an elephant’s birth as it is cared for by its family and surroundings. The expressions on the elephant faces are sheer joy to behold; the elephant smiles are realistic and yet radiate affection. Seemingly simple, this gentle rhyming story works on two levels: the playfulness of the young elephant and its friends ensure that young children will be able to see themselves in the story, and given the depiction of the natural scenes, at least some young readers will become fascinated with the lives of elephants as well. An author’s note at the end provides background from the Indian-American author’s own life and also draws attention to the present-day need to protect elephants from poaching and the loss of habitat.
The soft cadence of the rhyming verses and the joyous pictures of the elephants will make this a bedtime favorite . (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16684-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Good for a giggle from preschool readers despite its slight imperfections.
A brightly illustrated story told in rhyme about mixed-up robots getting ready for the day.
Holub and Dickason team up for another title echoing the style of their similarly formatted Hello Knights! and Hello Ninjas! (both 2018). Here, the titular robots are having trouble getting ready for the day. They put socks on top of shoes and even forget how to eat their cereal, pouring milk on their heads and flipping their bowls upside down on the table. The confusion comes to a climax in a double gatefold in which the robots realize that they need a reboot, correcting their routines. Young readers will delight in the silliness: underpants on heads, bathing in clothes. Holub’s rhyming text works well for the most part and includes some charming turns of phrase, such as “brushing bolts” in place of brushing teeth. Dickason’s illustrations use a consistent palette of mostly primary colors and feature 1960s-style robots drawn with antennae, motherboards on boxy chests, and wheels for feet. The pages are busy and packed, allowing for new discoveries upon each read, though this busyness argues for use with older toddlers. It’s not entirely clear where the robots are headed (school?) or whether or not they’re also ETs (they fly away on a spaceship), but the story is fun enough to overlook those muddled details.
Good for a giggle from preschool readers despite its slight imperfections. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1871-4
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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