A big-time missed opportunity.
Fears of a new bed can be complicated when a dinosaur’s added to the mix.
The light-skinned child narrator at the heart of this rhyming text is thrilled to pieces by a new big-kid bed with a dino-shaped headboard, received as a birthday present. Eager and excited to use it, at last the child is tucked in nice and snug. But what’s this? The moonlight casts a scary dino shadow on the wall, and suddenly this bed is the last place the tot wants to be. Trying to bunk with Rover, Grandma, and then Mom and Dad doesn’t help—it’s impossible to get to sleep. All ends happily when the kid finally returns to bed to find that the moon has gone away, taking the shadow with it. What precise fears are meant to be allayed here is unclear. While many kids can identify with the nervousness of transferring to a “big-kid bed” (falling out, getting lost in it, the height, etc.), few will be facing the additional phobia of dinosaur-headboard shadows. Why compound fears of bedtime unnecessarily? Additionally, since the moon’s movements erase the problem independently, the protagonist doesn’t even psychologically work through the fear. To accompany the jaunty rhymes, Morley’s upbeat art aims for jolly rather than scary. The endpapers hint that the child’s shadow possibly cavorts with the dinosaur’s, though this remains unclear.
A big-time missed opportunity. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93731-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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A worthy message wrapped up in a playful romp.
A romp about saying “I don’t know.”
An apartment building full of cartoonlike creatures shown interacting through their windows (a clever illustrative decision) evokes the lively life of urban living. When one neighbor asks another (via the window) to wake them up in “20 coconuts,” the neighbor agrees but then admits to himself that he doesn’t know what that means—something that bothers him because he is known for being a know-it-all; in fact, he comes from a family of know-it-alls. Ah, pressure! The know-it-all gets himself into a tizzy, cleans his ears and finds a sock and a chicken, consults “Phoney” (his cellphone), and even gets his brain washed by Wally’s Wash Works. If this all sounds extremely silly and somewhat chaotic, it is—which means kids will probably love it. Eventually, he wakes up his neighbor with his yelling (right on time, apparently) but admits to her he doesn’t know what 20 coconuts means. She offers to explain, but then he says he has to be somewhere in “11 bananas,” throwing her into confusion. The energetic (some may say frenzied) tone is amplified by illustrations that have lots going on, with various characters talking in dialogue bubbles to each other, but the message itself comes across as a little light until an explanatory note from the “brains” spells it out—it’s OK to say you don’t know. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A worthy message wrapped up in a playful romp. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31196-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Funny, feathery finesse.
In this wordless picture book, a fledgling robin with a vivid imagination keeps resisting its father’s encouragement to fly.
The first double-page spread clearly and cleverly shows a sequence in which a young robin in its nest passes gradually from the stage of pink and un-feathered to fluffy and then flight-ready. The father robin has been busily stuffing the child’s beak with whole worms, another signal that the youngster is maturing. Bold brush strokes and strong colors depict the birds, their nest on a branch, and surrounding foliage—with plenty of negative space to make room for speech bubbles. The “speech” consists of clear images showing a comical struggle between parent and child. Most of the “conversation” takes place on the ground, after the fledgling has inadvertently tumbled from its nest. The anthropomorphic facial expressions and body language are laugh-out-loud funny, as are the fledgling’s ridiculous, naïve pictorial retorts to every reason the adult gives for learning to fly. The baby imagines itself using all kinds of transportation—including, but not limited to, gaily colored hot air balloons, skateboards, and trains—and the father becomes increasingly frustrated. Children will giggle at the power struggle, recognizing human behaviors. Robins, like humans, share all aspects of parenting, and it is commendable that the art depicts this parent as male. As nightfall approaches, the adult finally succeeds in motivating its child, leading to a harmonious concluding scene.
Funny, feathery finesse. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5128-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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