A tale of two kids in the city shows Rose conquering her fears and making a new friend. Of all the noises New York City can produce, the ones that frighten Rose (who looks about four) are those she hears over her head, made by her upstairs neighbor. Even though her mother tells her ``it's just Sebastian,'' Rose asks to meet the boy, and a mother-summit results in a tea party where the riled-up boy demonstrates his lung power up close. ``ARRGH ARRGH ARRGH,'' he likes to scream. Rose laughs and they show each other their toys; that night in bed, Rose shakes up Sebastian with some screeching of her own. According to the illustration, Sebastian takes this surprise in stride. Accomplished, stylized drawings help put the lighthearted story across, and Zarin offers not only a glimpse of apartment life, but establishes Rose as a captivating heroine who wants to overcome her fears, and does. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-75920-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Floyd and Denise update “The Tortoise and the Hare” for primary readers, captioning each soft-focus, semi-rural scene with a short, simple sentence or two. Rabbit proposes running to school, while his friend Turtle takes the bus: no contest at first, as the bus makes stop after deliberate stop, but because Rabbit pauses at a pushcart for a snack, a fresh-looking Turtle greets his panting, disheveled friend on the school steps. There is no explicit moral, but children will get the point—and go on to enjoy Margery Cuyler’s longer and wilder Road Signs: A Harey Race with a Tortoise (p. 957). (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-202679-7
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
Preaches to the choir.
A picture-book introduction to the police.
A preface by the author/illustrator’s son Mark R. Levin, a lawyer and Fox News personality, tells readers, “My father…understands that in all walks of life, and in every profession, man’s imperfections present themselves.” But, distressed by “news reports painting police officers…in an extremely negative light,” he was stirred to create this book so that young readers might “learn to respect law and order.” After that beginning, straightforward text combines with simple, childlike illustrations to introduce various types of police officers and what they do, including traffic police, dog handlers, and state troopers. Unsurprisingly, this is an unnuanced, positive portrayal. “When a fierce hurricane hits, the police remain steadfast. Amid the rising floodwaters, they search for missing people and stranded pets.” The book does not fall into the common trap of adducing the criminality of those arrested but not yet tried—indeed, there’s just one depiction of an arrest, in the beam of light cast by a police helicopter as the text reads that its job is to “make sure all is safe in the surrounding neighborhood.” It is deeply unfortunate, however, in a book that is attempting to rehabilitate the police with young audiences, that the vast preponderance of officers depicted appear to be white (as are those they interact with). Nowhere in the book’s determined cheerleading is there room to respect the experiences of those who have lost family members and friends to the police and who themselves feel targeted.
Preaches to the choir. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2950-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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