A saccharine bedtime read-aloud about big ideas and the promise in everyone. (Picture book. 3-6)
What’s common among a seed, an egg, a tadpole, a caterpillar, goslings, and you? Each contains the idea of a mature being and the potential all living things possess.
A young, brown-skinned girl holds an apple, and readers are told that hidden inside “is the idea of a tree / wrapped tight / in [a] shiny seed.” The little girl bites into the apple, dropping a seed that could “take root / sprout / shoot up / into the blue.” The story then shows how other living things begin and grow before it shifts back to the little girl. While this middle section reflects similarities between human development and animal growth, phrases such as the “lapping lake” and “over lake and field / through clouds and miles / and days and nights” feel overdone. Additionally, near the story’s end, the celebration of a metaphorical orchard field “with creatures singing, springing, fluttering, winging— / and people laughing, lounging, munching, swinging” also reads as sappy. Primarily a story encouraging children to cultivate their remarkable selves, the book also teaches that “work and [a] long, loooooooong wait” are necessary to grow an idea. Opaque, spring-bright colors in the watercolor, pencil, and gouache illustrations extend to the page’s edge, eliciting the feel of being in the scene, and complement the text’s suggested importance of a human connection with nature.
A saccharine bedtime read-aloud about big ideas and the promise in everyone. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68119-183-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
It may be his mothers’ wedding day, but it’s Donovan’s big day in Newman’s (Heather Has Two Mommies, 1989, etc.) latest picture book about queer family life. Centered on the child’s experience and refreshingly eschewing reference to controversy, the book emerges as a celebration of not only Mommy’s and Mama’s mutual love but progress toward equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Readers, however, don't know immediately know why it is “a very BIG day” for Donovan or what the “very BIG job” is that he has to do. In his affectionate, humorous gouache paintings with digital finish, Dutton cleverly includes clues in the form of family pictures in an earlier spread set inside their home, and then a later spread shows Donovan in a suit and placing a “little white satin box that Aunt Jennifer gave him” into his pocket, hinting toward his role as ring bearer. But it’s not until the third-to-last spread that he stands with his parents and hands “one shiny gold ring to Mommy [and] one shiny gold ring to Mama.” He, of course, gets to kiss the brides on the last page, lending a happily-ever-after sensibility to the end of this story about a family's new beginning. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58246-332-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Engines won’t be the only thing roaring their approval when this book hits storytime.
Who needs sanity when you’ve got family?
The title character of Elbow Grease (2018) and his family of Demolition Derby trucks return to face an all-new competitor. Once again, ’Bo is feeling inadequate next to his fan-favorite brothers. Despite Mel the Mechanic’s encouragement—he’s “the best at getting better”—he wants to be noticed. But instead, he notices someone unavoidable. Motozilla, the monster machine that turns trucks “into crunch sandwiches,” is currently undefeated. Trouble is, you’d need a truck with an array of skills to take him down. Thinking fast, ’Bo makes the wild and somewhat improbable suggestion that he and his brothers join together to form a single supertruck. Will it be enough to take down this bully? Quips, jests, and teamwork are the name of the game as pro wrestler Cena improves on his writing in this second outing, which demonstrates that individual glory falls in the face of concentrated cooperation. Rollicking, radical art portrays the battle in all its gritty glory, mud and twisted metal galore. Human crowds show a diverse range of races and genders, and the trucks’ keeper, Mel, has light-brown skin and wears glasses.
Engines won’t be the only thing roaring their approval when this book hits storytime. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7353-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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