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OUT THE WINDOW

This whimsical celebration of imagination is a reminder to constantly seek to broaden our horizons, for new wonders always...

Pull this chunky, square, accordion-folded board book from its slipcase to find a simple story that’s short on words but big on imagination.

On the first page, readers are presented with an unidentifiable small brown animal—a cross between a mouse and a bear?—bouncing a polka-dot ball. As the accordion pages unfold, they watch as the creature tosses the ball and it goes flying out of the window. Try as it might, the critter is too short to see out the window, though readers can tell that something dramatic is obviously happening right outside. The final fold instructs them that it is “time to turn around”; flipping the book, they will find an exotic parade featuring everything from an octopus to various types of birds to all manner of machines. Although not visible on most of the pages, the ball somehow makes its way through the crazy carnival and is tossed, in the final panels, back through the window into the waiting arms of its furry owner. Little ones will have trouble with both format and story, but older children will delight in stretching out the panels to the book’s full, considerable length and poring over its extraordinary scenes.

This whimsical celebration of imagination is a reminder to constantly seek to broaden our horizons, for new wonders always await. (Board book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-55498-370-4

Page Count: 30

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

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GOOD NIGHT OWL

A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.

Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.

Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?

A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: April 19, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016

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I'M A HARE, SO THERE!

Animated and educational.

A hare and a ground squirrel banter about the differences between related animals that are often confused for one another.

Jack is “no Flopsy, Mopsy, or Cottontail,” but a “H-A-R-E, hare!” Like sheep and goats, or turtles and tortoises, rabbits and hares may look similar, but hares are bigger, their fur changes color in the winter, and they are born with their eyes wide open. As the ground squirrel (not to be mistaken for a chipmunk (even though Jack cheekily calls it “Chippie”) and Jack engage in playful discussion about animals, a sneaky coyote prowls after them through the Sonoran Desert. This picture book conveys the full narrative in spirited, speech-bubbled dialogue set on expressive illustrations of talking animals. Dark outlines around the characters make their shapes pop against the softly blended colors of the desert backgrounds. Snappy back-and-forth paired with repetition and occasional rhyme enhances the story’s appeal as a read-aloud. As the story progresses, the colors of the sky shift from dawn to dusk, providing subtle, visual bookends for the narrative. One page of backmatter offers a quick guide to eight easily confused pairs, and a second turns a subsequent exploration of the book into a seek-and-find of 15 creatures (and one dessert) hidden in the desert. Unfortunately, while most of the creatures from the seek-and-find appear in poses that match the illustrations in the challenge, not all of them are consistently represented. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 53.3% of actual size.)

Animated and educational. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-358-12506-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

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