Bear’s hilarious adventure begs for multiple readings.
Bear happily gathers mouthwatering foods from a park’s visitors until he realizes the moon wants his feast.
To sooth his growling belly, Bear dances around a forested park in search of a meal. He’s thrilled by the berries, honey, and fish that he forages, but Bear is most elated by the marshmallows and sausage he frees from ice chests belonging to the humans. Round and full, Moon brightens the night sky during Bear’s spree—clearly Moon has an eye on Bear’s goodies. Protective of his feast, Bear runs and hides from Moon. When he finally escapes Moon’s bright light, Bear has a change of heart and shares his picnic with those around him, a multiethnic and multispecies gathering. Farrell evokes the emotional valleys of a chase scene when Bear’s hungry excitement evolves into anxiety as he tries to avoid Moon’s gaze. Farrell’s conservative use of color in his pencil-and-digital artwork allows Bear’s brown fur and comical actions to pop in each scene. Each page deserves careful study so as not to miss the wacky reactions from animals and humans alike; as the only text is Bear’s increasingly paranoid exclamations, there is much to interpret. Young readers who grasp the concept that the moon does not actually follow them will be entertained by Bear’s antics. Not only will Bear make readers laugh out loud, but he illustrates how sharing can build a community.
Bear’s hilarious adventure begs for multiple readings. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4159-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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