While it may not make kids excited for bedtime, this book is one they’ll want to read.
Engledow, known online as the “World’s Best Father,” presents a bedtime book illustrated with his signature, humorous, digitally manipulated, composite photographs.
The particular white, blonde little girl will be familiar as Engledow’s daughter to those who’ve followed him online. She resists going to bed because she’s certain her parents stay up having fun after she’s asleep. That resistance is exemplified with various scenarios certain to be familiar to readers—she’s hungry, she wants another story, etc.—but the understated text works with illustrations that amplify its humor. When she’s hungry, for example, she’s depicted eating a massive turkey drumstick while clutching a head of broccoli and sitting in bed before a huge slice of watermelon. Then she catches her parents “doing boring grown-up stuff” after her bedtime, and her father tells her to count herself to sleep. This backfires, as she stays up until dawn not only counting, but creating a range of absurd and wonderful things in her room. Her lost sleep makes her miss the next day’s fun at a party, and when she decides to get a good night’s sleep to avoid missing out on the next day, the story’s resolution is saved from heavy-handedness by a clever twist on the final page.
While it may not make kids excited for bedtime, this book is one they’ll want to read. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-242537-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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