Fans of the Free To Be You And Me style of children’s literature will appreciate the inspiring message about developing...
A motivational picture book by author Sarno-Doyle designed to teach kids about exploring their own abilities and hobbies.
Using the metaphor of an “inside shape” for the inner being, Sarno-Doyle aims to teach kids to weigh inner values over outer appearances. Written for very young children, the book is bright and full of lively images. In 30-some pages, the author explains the difference between “outside shape” (hair, clothes, ethnicity, etc.) and “inside shape,” the inner interests that children need to develop to become full-fledged, happy individuals. Many of the possible interests here are professional and educational—science, animal welfare, books, mathematics. The book also offers inspiration for kids to develop extracurricular activities, including sports and fishing. There are several open-ended prompts at the beginning of the book to get readers started: “I like to...” or “I don’t like to....” These questions are designed to help children explore their strengths and the skills they want to learn. Interestingly, the author doesn’t linger on the influence of “outside shapes,” such as gender or ethnicity, in shaping individual children’s personal identities, even in a positive manner (like Karen Katz’s The Colors of Us) that could help kids’ self-esteem if they feel externally judged or different from their classmates. The book’s abbreviated length, too, means that the range of topics is narrow. Charmingly illustrated by Jennings with old-fashioned images of children at play, the text will appeal to parents looking for inspiring books for their young children.
Fans of the Free To Be You And Me style of children’s literature will appreciate the inspiring message about developing children’s passions.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0982446102
Page Count: 32
Publisher: SDP Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2013
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
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BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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