A bouncy little leopard cub machetes his way through a crowded jungle of ho-hum going-to-bed books and dances into our hearts. “(E)veryone’s asleep but me!” crows this fresh faced cutie. Guarded by a smiling, sometimes sleepy, silvery, sickle moon, this toddler in spotted pajamas takes readers on tour of his jungle neighborhood through a rhymed litany of animals—all of whom have already surrendered to sleep. Soothing repetition contrasts with intermittent bursts of energy as he tries eagerly to recruit readers for his corps of sleep-resisters: “The snake is sleeping peacefully / like ribbon candy in a tree / lazy lions side by side . . . / Are your peepers open wide?” On page after page, the broad, black-outlined colors and shapes bounce and weave like the adamantly not-sleepy cub. Tired but unbowed, he chortles: “(B)ut am I sleeping? Nope!” Finally, as with even the most oppositional, irrepressible little ones, the press of exhaustion wins out. Cub and child alike are ready at last for security and rest: “Now I know what we should do / Let’s sleep and dream / the whole night through.” A woodcut master, Frampton’s (Riding the Tiger, p. 327, etc.) bold images feature an offbeat palette of grape purple, flat red, glowing turquoise, fertile green, and an irresistibly golden orange and black-spotted little leopard. Images push the page edges and vibrate with active and potential energy. One particularly winsome page shows the cub perched triumphantly atop a lion family literally and figuratively stacking zzz’s. Through ever-present tongue-in-cheek humor and appealingly curvilinear grace, this little gem exudes child-centric appeal and is wonderfully reminiscent of early Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey collaborations. Frampton, with abundant warmth and canny simplicity, celebrates the anarchic spirit and small, blissful triumphs of early childhood. (Picture Book. 2-5)
Pub Date: June 30, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-028825-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world.
A quiet book for putting young children to bed in a state of snowy wonder.
The magic of the north comes alive in a picture book featuring Inuit characters. In the sky at nighttime, snow falls fast. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a raven roosts atop a tall building. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a mother’s delicate song to her child arises like a gentle breeze.” With the repetition of the simple, titular refrain, the author envisions what happens in a small town at night: Young children see their breath in the cold; a hunter returns on his snowmobile; the stars dazzle in the night sky. A young mother rocks her baby to sleep with a song and puts the tot down with a trio of stuffed animals: hare, polar bear, seal. The picture book evokes a feeling of peace as the street lamps, northern lights, and moon illuminate the snow. The illustrations are noteworthy for the way they meld the old world with what it looks like to be a modern Indigenous person: A sled dog and fur-lined parkas combine easily with the frame houses, a pickup truck, power lines, and mobile-hung crib. By introducing Indigenous characters in an unremarkably familiar setting, the book reaches children who don’t always see themselves in an everyday context.
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77227-238-3
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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