You need to be Edward Gorey to pull something like this off, and this team is not.
Teddy really is terrible.
Teddy is a little bear, and as Jolibois describes him, Teddy is a brat, a mean brat, and as far as the fish is concerned, a sadistic brat (“Now, c’mon little fishy, / I’ve got a plan. Let’s hold your breath, / for as long as you can”) who dangles him over the water. All the other creatures in the woods are victims of Teddy’s malignity—the frogs’ lily pad gets sunk, the squirrels’ tree gets shook, and, for a touch of psychological abuse, he tells the two little birds: “Your mother has left you. / She packed up her sack. / She flew far away. / She’s NOT coming back.” It’s all a bit much, even when readers learn Teddy is an orphan and all he needed was the love of a mother, a quiet talking-to, and a kiss or 10. There is a disconnect here between the pen-and-wash art, which Barcilon has treated with tongue in cheek, and Jolibois’ text, which is absent of any elision from cruel to cuddly. Nor does it help that some of the couplets are pancake flat: “Do you hear all that noise? / All that shouting and clatter? / Forest creatures are frightened. / What could be the matter?”
You need to be Edward Gorey to pull something like this off, and this team is not. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4413-2318-7
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Peter Pauper Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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