Surprisingly topical and overall egg-cellent.
When a limited-access tree suddenly attracts too many birds, the guard discovers a fruitful solution.
The story told in this slyly subversive, freely imagined, and wonderfully funny fable begins on the front endpapers. Readers can see that the line to access the 500-year-old tree is very long. Page turns reveal that the tree’s guard is grouchy and lays down many, many rules. The birds dutifully follow most of them, and the tree soon reaches its 100-bird capacity. But, to the delight of the 99 other visitors, the egg one bird is carrying atop its head in a nest made of (apparently) its hair hatches. Twins! Now there are two too many birds. The guard is apoplectic, but the birds revolt to carry him off for a productive timeout. Eventually, working together, birds and guard solve their problem—by planting more trees. The birds’ situation will be familiar to any child who has gone to a public pool in summer, and it’s even more common in today’s world of crowd limits. Derby adds to the child appeal with her cleverly differentiated bird characters and the intriguing side stories. (Watch the line at the birda-potty. And look under the back flap to see what happens when there are “two many turds.”) Created with watercolors and ink, her stylized birds are basically small spheres with legs, varying in color, costume, accessories, and hairdo. The only actual text is the guard’s barked orders, conveyed in speech bubbles, and handwritten signs. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 91.9% of actual size.)
Surprisingly topical and overall egg-cellent. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-23254-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school...
The familiar theme of the challenges facing a new kid in town is given an original treatment by photographer Border in this book of photos of three-dimensional objects in a simple modeled landscape.
Peanut Butter is represented by a slice of white bread spread with the popular condiment. The other characters in the story—a hamburger with a pair of hot dogs in tow, a bowl of alphabet soup, a meatball jumping a rope of spaghetti, a carton of French fries and a pink cupcake—are represented by skillfully crafted models of these foods, anthropomorphized using simple wire construction. Rejected by each character in turn in his search for playmates, Peanut Butter discovers in the end that Jelly is his true match (not Cupcake, as the title suggests), perhaps because she is the only one who looks like him, being a slice of white bread spread with jelly. The friendly foods end up happily playing soccer together. Some parents may have trouble with the unabashedly happy depiction of carbs and American junk food (no carrots or celery sticks in this landscape), and others may find themselves troubled by the implication that friendship across difference is impossible.
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16773-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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
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