Cute concept; readers’ mileage may vary.
Chair just wants “to be in on the game."
Every night before bed, Vivi, a brown-skinned girl with puffy pigtails, and Monkey, a child-sized stuffed animal, play a game. Monkey hides in plain sight under a blanket, Vivi pretends to look everywhere for Monkey, Vivi questions the witnesses: Chair, Plant, Kettle, and Cat. Chair is the only witness who cares about the game. But the role of witness is not enough for Chair. Chair loves Vivi and wants to be more involved. But night after night, Monkey comes out of hiding, and the pair leaves Chair sleepless and jealous. One night, Chair decides that if Monkey needed a bath—say, if some juice were spilled on Monkey—then Chair could take Monkey’s place. But the plan backfires. When Monkey doesn’t turn up, Vivi only looks harder for Monkey and becomes upset with Chair when Vivi realizes Chair had a hand in the disappearance. But all ends well when Vivi comes to understand Chair’s intentions. Vivi is easily seen as a beloved adult, with Chair as a misunderstood, childlike character who just wants some attention, making this story a clever representation of all-too-real feelings of the young. Bright, expressive illustrations add to the chuckleworthy drama. There are some off notes: Plant’s falling “in love” with Cat is an odd touch for this age group, and the Monkey-as-peer is rather unsettling both conceptually and visually. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.8-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 71.8% of actual size.)
Cute concept; readers’ mileage may vary. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77306-246-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Affirming and welcome.
A picture-book celebration of individuality and diversity.
Heling and Hembrook’s text opens with the lines, “In all the world over, / this much is true: / You’re somebody special. / There’s only one you.” The art depicts a white-appearing child with red pigtails, first on the floor, drawing, beside a big dog, then getting dressed as the dog sits on the bed and a woman, also white, peeks in. The next scene depicted in the digital, cartoon-style art shows the child hugging the woman and about to get on a school bus with a gaggle of diverse children with varying skin tones, hair textures and colors, and visible disabilities (one child wears a hearing aid, another wears glasses, a third uses a forearm crutch, and a fourth uses a wheelchair). As the rhyming text continues, it celebrates the diversity of these children not just in terms of their identities, but by commenting on their personalities, their talents, and ultimately their families. At book’s end, the first child is revealed to have two moms when they both pick her up at the end of the school day, the family dog in tow. “Families are families, / but soon you will find / that each can be different— / a ‘best for them’ kind,” reads the accompanying, inclusive text.
Affirming and welcome. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2292-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A brassy, assertive fellow—young readers in the middle of their own power struggles will relate.
A tugboat’s size and might are easy to anthropomorphize; add this personified puffer to the mix.
Tough Tug is built near Seattle, made of strong steel welded together and adorned with a fresh coat of bright red paint. Wide googly eyes and a determined smile complete the look. On launch day, Tough Tug triumphantly flashes forward and backward, twirling and swirling through the water. Older tugboats (distinguished variously by mustaches, glasses, and eye patches) grumble at the youngster’s bravado. “Push and pull is what tugs do. Practice THAT.” Tough Tug’s first job is to tow a barge to Alaska. Rhythmic mantras churn across the surface of the water in bold navy letters: “Ready, steady. / Steady, ready. // Chug and tug. / Tug and chug.” But Tough Tug is overeager and challenges Arctic Tug to a race. The thrum changes to “Race and run! / Run and race!” Arctic Tug is first to Sitka, but while crossing the open ocean to Anchorage, the older tug gets into trouble. It’s Tough Tug to the rescue! McClurkan’s digital paintings look quite modern, but there is a feel to his foamy waves that recalls the mid-20th-century harbor of Little Toot. The anthropomorphized boats have plenty of personality, and readers who study the expressions on the container ships will be rewarded. An author’s note explains this was inspired by a true story of one tug rescuing another boat from a competing tugboat company.
A brassy, assertive fellow—young readers in the middle of their own power struggles will relate. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-5098-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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