Diesen tackles a worry not often found in back-to-school books; young Mr. Fish will ease children’s fears about what will be...
This look back at when Mr. Fish was young and starting school for the first time focuses on belonging.
Poor little Mr. Fish is not having a good first day of school. It started off well enough with a smooch from his parents, but then he lost his way in the big building. He peeks in several doorways and attempts to do the work he sees the other little fish doing, but he just can’t, whether it’s writing his name, drawing a rhombus or doing long division. Each time, the frustrated fish plops down his pencil and counts his troubles: “Trouble One: I’m not smart! / Trouble Two: I’ll never get it! / Trouble Three: I don’t belong! / So Four: I should forget it!” Just as he is ready to leave the school, his new teacher finds him and turns his troubles on their heads with a rhyme sure to accompany children on their own first days. As in the Pout-Pout Fish’s other adventures, Hanna’s cartoonish ocean realm is full of details for both children and adults (don’t miss the posters and signs on the school walls), the various sea creatures using whatever appendages they have to complete their schoolwork.
Diesen tackles a worry not often found in back-to-school books; young Mr. Fish will ease children’s fears about what will be expected of them. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-36095-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In the end too much is left unanswered, making this book pleasant but only passable
A mouse searches for and finally finds her missing Seder plate.
Pippa is an industrious house-cleaning mouse. And no wonder—Passover is starting this very evening. Dusting and sweeping finished, she turns her attention to setting the table as a pot of chicken stew bubbles away on the stovetop. But there is one very important object that is missing: the “special Seder plate.” Frantically, the mouse searches through boxes and cupboards and finally ventures into the yard. First she encounters a very large cat and asks if it has seen the plate. “No,” answers the cat and points her to a snake, who sends her to an owl, who directs her to Golda Fish, prettily swimming in the water. Success! Kirkfield’s little tale is written in rhyming couplets with much repetition of “QUIVER! QUAVER! SHIVER! SHAKE!” for emphasis with each interaction with a predator, so readers will be mightily puzzled when the formerly frightful critters join Pippa at the holiday table. Weber’s gouache, crayon, and collage illustrations are sweetly pretty. The final illustration features a Seder plate with transliterated Hebrew and an English translation of the components. Readers familiar with the holiday may find this mildly enjoyable, but others will likely want and need more information.
In the end too much is left unanswered, making this book pleasant but only passable . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4162-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Both a sweet lap-read and a gentle exhortation that caregivers interact with their children.
Marr and White produce a toddler sequel to Bunny Roo, I Love You (2015).
“One day you woke… / and hopped out of bed. I thought you’d become a frog, / so I brought you to the pond,” the doting narrator begins. But after touching the water, the child behaves like a duckling. And when the narrator joins the child in the water, the child clings like a monkey to the adult’s back. This pattern continues as the adult and child go through their day interacting, the child becoming a snake and a cheetah before morphing into “my bunny roo.” The rabbit eats some salad before a snuggle finally reveals the human child they have been all along, a barefoot tot in green one-piece pajamas with light skin and hair a shade lighter than their mother’s red. “You are my everything, as fun as all the animals in the world.” Pale, creamy backgrounds and sparse details keep the focus on the parent-child relationship, which is very sweet and tender, especially in the closing vignette of mother holding a snuggly child. The mother, whether animal or human, has prominent eyelashes that her child lacks. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.7% of actual size.)
Both a sweet lap-read and a gentle exhortation that caregivers interact with their children. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-51604-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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