A whimsical celebration of winter and an excellent choice for lap readers at bedtime.
Two animals push off their hibernation to see the beauty of snow in this charming picture book from debut writer McCoy and veteran illustrator Svensson (The Alchemy of the Little Red Frog, 2017, etc.).
Bear and Toad sit in the snow, even though they should be hibernating. When questioned by a snowshoe hare, the bear explains that they want to enjoy wintertime scenes. Toad bemoans the fact that she’s only seen spring and summer weather before, missing out on “snowflakes drifting, / Like diamonds from the sky, brightly sifting,” as well as snowmen, sleighs, and tundra swans. In rhyming couplets, Bear and Toad celebrate the aspects of winter that they’ve missed, making the first half of the book a delightful ode to the season. However, the hare protests that the two are turning blue and should hibernate. With familiar bedtime-protest refrains (“Just a minute or an hour more”; “I’m not even tired”), Bear and Toad stay up until night falls and they can’t see any more. Some words may be a struggle for newly independent readers, but for listeners, the rhymes scan beautifully. The cartoonish illustrations are also pleasing, if not particularly inspiring.
A whimsical celebration of winter and an excellent choice for lap readers at bedtime.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9891657-1-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quaking Aspen Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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