This one serves as a gentle introduction to the concepts of day, night and the four seasons while celebrating and cementing...
by Caroline Jayne Church ; illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 2014
A simple, joyful expression of love at all hours and through all seasons.
In short, rhyming verses, a doting parent professes love for his or her toddler all through the day and night: “I love you in the morning at the start of every day. // I love you in the evening when sunshine goes away. // I love you when the stars glow in the dim moonlight. // I love you in the silence that comes with every night.” In the verses that follow, the narrator continues in this vein, describing his or her love for the child in spring, summer, winter and fall, ending with: “Let’s watch the world together, in rain, or snow, or shine. // I love you always and forever, sweet child of mine.” The endearing, cartoon-style illustrations feature a blond, curly-haired Caucasian girl and her stuffed bunny sidekick in appealing yet uncluttered natural scenes, with the narrator/parent never pictured. Both the text—with brief lines that scan well and read smoothly—and the illustrations are well-suited to the toddler crowd.
This one serves as a gentle introduction to the concepts of day, night and the four seasons while celebrating and cementing the parent/child bond—if only it were more ethnically inclusive. (Board book. 6 mos.-3)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-64771-7
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Caroline Jayne Church
BOOK REVIEW
by Caroline Jayne Church ; illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church
BOOK REVIEW
by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak ; illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church
BOOK REVIEW
by Caroline Jayne Church ; illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2019
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More In The Series
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
More by Jeff Kinney
BOOK REVIEW
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
BOOK REVIEW
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
BOOK REVIEW
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Patricia Castelao ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2020
Tiny, sassy Bob the dog, friend of The One and Only Ivan (2012), returns to tell his tale.
Wisecracking Bob, who is a little bit Chihuahua among other things, now lives with his girl, Julia, and her parents. Happily, her father works at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary, the zoo where Bob’s two best friends, Ivan the gorilla and Ruby the elephant, live, so Bob gets to visit and catch up with them regularly. Due to an early betrayal, Bob doesn’t trust humans (most humans are good only for their thumbs); he fears he’s going soft living with Julia, and he’s certain he is a Bad Dog—as in “not a good representative of my species.” On a visit to the zoo with a storm threatening, Bob accidentally falls into the gorilla enclosure just as a tornado strikes. So that’s what it’s like to fly. In the storm’s aftermath, Bob proves to everyone (and finally himself) that there is a big heart in that tiny chest…and a brave one too. With this companion, Applegate picks up where her Newbery Medal winner left off, and fans will be overjoyed to ride along in the head of lovable, self-deprecating Bob on his storm-tossed adventure. His wry doggy observations and attitude are pitch perfect (augmented by the canine glossary and Castelao’s picture dictionary of dog postures found in the frontmatter). Gorilla Ivan described Julia as having straight, black hair in the previous title, and Castelao's illustrations in that volume showed her as pale-skinned. (Finished art not available for review.)
With Ivan’s movie out this year from Disney, expect great interest—it will be richly rewarded. (afterword) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299131-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Katherine Applegate
BOOK REVIEW
by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Charles Santoso
BOOK REVIEW
by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Max Kostenko
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2022 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.