Children should relate to the emotions surrounding a lost toy and the happiness of its recovery, even if not by the original...
A shark and his goldfish pal look for a teddy bear that falls into the ocean in this picture book.
Sharkee, a sand tiger shark and mascot of Ripley’s Aquarium, sports a friendly grin and swims around with an unimpressed-looking goldfish companion. One day, they notice a teddy bear sinking into the ocean but then lose sight of it. “We decided to look for it,” says Sharkee, although the image depicts a surprised goldfish being grabbed abruptly by the fin and towed along. Sharkee asks several sea creatures about the teddy bear, but none have seen it—though sharp-eyed readers may notice the bear tucked under a baby octopus’s arm. Sharkee at last catches sight of the pair, and a hungry look on his face seems to bode ill—the usually expressionless goldfish becomes wide-eyed in alarm. But the final image shows Sharkee sweetly cuddling baby and bear. This book by the team of Bolin, Firpi, and Graziano (Bremner and the Party, 2018) provides minimal text that depends for its effectiveness on being paired with the full-page, colorful, and detailed illustrations. For example, a query to the blue lobster is reported as “He wasn’t very helpful” by the authors while the picture amusingly shows the understatement by depicting a grumpy, Snidely Whiplash–mustachioed crustacean pinching Sharkee’s nose. The contrast in the last pages between Sharkee’s fierce demeanor and his affectionate protectiveness is entirely wordless yet dramatic and nicely resolved.
Children should relate to the emotions surrounding a lost toy and the happiness of its recovery, even if not by the original owner.Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60991-208-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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