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LITTLE BOY WHO LIVED DOWN THE DRAIN

Name: LITTLE BOY WHO LIVED DOWN THE DRAIN
Author: Carolyn Huizinga Mills
ISBN: 978-1-55455-395-2

by Carolyn Huizinga Mills ; illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017

A playful spin on the new-baby theme.

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A misheard nursery rhyme gives rise to an imaginary friend who helps a little girl overcome loneliness.

Sally, whom watercolor-and-pencil illustrations depict as a white girl with light skin and sandy-brown hair, thinks her mother ends the “Baa Baa Black Sheep” rhyme she sings to her baby brother with a line about “the little boy… / Who lives down the DRAIN.” This inspires her to try to talk with the unseen, pipe-dwelling boy when taking a bath. She voices feelings of sadness and isolation about being too little to join her big sisters in their play, as well as jealousy for her busy parents’ attention. Although she’s comforted by this imagined audience, she wishes she could hear the little boy respond. “I know you’re probably trying, but you need to try something different!” she cries, and the resulting echo inspires her to try something different to change the dynamic with her family. Her efforts ultimately meet with success, not only because her family members respond positively, but because her perspective changes as she realizes, for example, “that much like her favourite toys, she had to share her parents, too.” A twist ending returns readers to the nursery rhyme that opened the story, and this time Sally hears about “the little boy who lives down the LANE,” whom she imagines anew.

A playful spin on the new-baby theme. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-55455-395-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
CON POLLO
by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos

- SEEN & HEARD
Jimmy Fallon Christmas Book Coming This Fall

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LLAMA LLAMA LOOSE TOOTH DRAMA

From the Llama Llama series

by Anna Dewdney ; illustrated by JT Morrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 17, 2020

A rite of passage seen through the lens of a favorite literary pal.

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Llama Llama loses a tooth for the first time.

All of the wiggling can make having a loose tooth fun, but there can be some worry, too. How will it fall out? There is a tooth fairy? What does she do? Llama Llama is distressed. “Is it fun? / Or is it scary? / Just who, exactly, / IS this Fairy?” Luckily, Mama is there to help. “The Fairy’s great. She’s kind and funny. / She takes your tooth / and leaves you money.” Llama Llama is on board with that! Appropriately, exactly how much money is never specified, but the tiny llama fairy is shown carrying a bag stuffed with bills. Hopefully she has many houses to visit. Gram and Grandpa have lots of ideas on how to get the tooth to fall out, but Llama’s tooth stays put until bedtime. Suddenly, Llama realizes his tooth is gone: “OH NO. / Where is that tooth? / Where did it GO?” Will the tooth fairy come if the tooth is lost? The comforting cadence of the rhymes paired with warm, textured hues soften all the drama. As in the other posthumously published Llama Llama books, Morrow’s textured paintings emulate Dewdney’s definitively lined renderings. The fluttering llama fairy, along with Llama’s stuffed llama, whose wide eyes notice all, will delight eagle-eyed readers. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.3-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 41.8% of actual size.)

A rite of passage seen through the lens of a favorite literary pal. (Picture book. 3-6)