Young book lovers will recognize a kindred spirit in this lively tale.
A girl faces a classic dilemma—discovering a quiet place to read—in this debut picture book.
For red-haired, pale-skinned Loulou Brown, a rainy day is the perfect time to read. Unfortunately, a house full of siblings means her location options are limited. Jake is building a fort next to the window seat; Dylan is baking in the kitchen; Lilah is planning to play dress-up in the bedroom; and Thomas is practicing drums in the garage. Even the bathroom faucet drips. A trip to the library gives Loulou space, but the silence makes her wonder what’s happening at home, so she checks out the perfect books for each sibling—and for her own inspiration. While there’s no mention of how Loulou gets to and from the library, kids who adore books are sure to find her appealing. Her joy in choosing volumes for her siblings— and building relationships with them after being annoyed by their presence—offers a valuable lesson about sharing not only reading, but family time as well. Short, simple sentences make the story easily accessible to newly independent readers. Bernard’s invented books with clever titles for each sibling—Jake gets Ideas for Little Architects—are right on target and are deftly featured in the humorous, soft-edged illustrations. Brayer (Licky the Lizard, 2018, etc.) uses a bright palette, despite the dreary day, which helps bring the exuberant Loulou to life.
Young book lovers will recognize a kindred spirit in this lively tale.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64111-473-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Palmetto Publishing Group
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up.
In Murray’s children’s debut, when a gingerbread man made by schoolchildren gets left behind at recess, he decides he has to find his class: “I’ll run and I’ll run, / As fast as I can. / I can catch them! I’m their / Gingerbread Man!”
And so begins his rollicking rhyming adventure as he runs, limps, slides and skips his way through the school, guided on his way by the friendly teachers he meets. Flattened by a volleyball near the gym, he gets his broken toe fixed by the kindly nurse and then slides down the railing into the art teacher’s lunch. Then it’s off to the principal’s office, where he takes a spin in her chair before she arrives. “The children you mentioned just left you to cool. / They’re hanging these posters of you through the school.” The principal takes him back to the classroom, where the children all welcome him back. The book’s comic-book layout suits the elementary-school tour that this is, while Lowery’s cartoon artwork fits the folktale theme. Created with pencil, screen printing and digital color, the simple illustrations give preschoolers a taste of what school will be like. While the Gingerbread Man is wonderfully expressive, though, the rather cookie-cutter teachers could use a little more life.
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25052-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
A quiet story of sharing with no strings attached.
A little girl in a town of white snow and soot-blackened chimneys opens a small box and discovers a never-ending gift of colorful yarn.
Annabelle knits herself a sweater, and with the leftover yarn, she knits one for her dog, and with the yarn left over from that, she knits one for a neighbor and for her classmates and for her teacher and for her family and for the birdhouse and for the buildings in town. All and everything are warm, cozy and colorful until a clotheshorse of an archduke arrives. Annabelle refuses his monetary offers, whereupon the box is stolen. The greedy archduke gets his just deserts when he opens the box to find it empty. It wends its way back to Annabelle, who ends up happily sitting in a knit-covered tree. Klassen, who worked on the film Coraline, uses inks, gouache and colorized scans of a sweater to create a stylized, linear design of dark geometric shapes against a white background. The stitches of the sweaters add a subdued rainbow. Barnett entertained middle-grade readers with his Brixton Brothers detective series. Here, he maintains a folkloric narrative that results in a traditional story arc complete with repetition, drama and a satisfying conclusion.
A quiet story of sharing with no strings attached. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-195338-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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