The story looks beautiful, but the depths of the issue are never plumbed.
A mouse disturbs a monkey’s tranquility but soon turns from irksome to indispensable in Alexander’s tale of friendship’s often strange course.
First, however, the artwork: a lovely combination of media creates landscapes and companionable characters in a broad range of sunny (if not particularly jungly) pastels. The story: Monkey lives alone in the jungle (“he liked it that way”), munching on bananas, reading in the crook of a tree limb, swimming in the cool, cool water of the lake. Little One (a mouse) appears, unbidden and unwanted. Monkey politely asks him to scram. Mouse is not conversant with “monkey-speak,” so he blithely settles in under Monkey’s hammock. Little One follows Monkey everywhere, innocently mimicking him (except for the bananas: “Yuck!”) and holding out peace offering after peace offering. Finally, Monkey erupts: “Leave me alone!”; and Little One does. Monkey finds himself discomfited. It’s not remorse or loneliness but something ineffable: “somehow it didn’t feel the same as before.” Monkey goes in search of Little One and welcomes him back. “The Little One still followed Monkey everywhere...but somehow Monkey didn’t mind anymore.” Somehow—but what changed Monkey’s mind? Sharing company can be a complicated, contradictory, confusing (dis)pleasure, but “somehow” doesn’t pass muster. There is nothing here for young readers to hang their hats on, no takeaway.
The story looks beautiful, but the depths of the issue are never plumbed. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1580-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise.
A hoppy, snappy Easter version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Three young tots, with varied skin tones and baskets ready in their hands, eagerly scamper on a spring day to find some eggs. But of course, they meet hindrances along the way. “Ooh, look … // Chickens! / Flapping, pecking chickens.” Thus starts the rolling refrain: “Can’t go over them. / Can’t go under them. / Can’t go around them. // Got to go through them!” The waddling chickens don’t pose much of an obstacle, but they do “Cluck-cluck!” loudly as they scatter in the sun. The three youngsters then must face “fluffy, hungry bunnies” (adorable long-eared puffballs with carrot fronds in their mouths) and “happy, hopping frogs” as they balance on stones to cross a pond. All of this leads to a garden bursting with colorful flowers (“Rustle-swish! / Rustle-swish!”) and finally…10 eggs in pastel patterns. Each egg has a number on it to encourage readers to count along and strengthen their numeracy skills. Rozelaar’s plump and rounded world, with roly-poly trees, flowers, and hills, wraps the tale in coziness.
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798887771304
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.
It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.
In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5378-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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