Every evening, after Papa comes home from work and washes off ``a day's worth of soil,'' he ``reads'' Kari a book, perhaps the one he calls ``Little Miss Too-Big-for-Her-Red-Britches'' (while the illustration depicts Little Red Riding Hood). Kari loves the way the stories vary from night to night, but as she gets older she begins to wonder. Suspicion turns to certainty when a friend who has just learned to read points out that the book's printed words are different. Going first to her mother (``If a person can't read, does that make them dumb?''), Kari goes on to level with Papa (``Were you ever gonna tell me?''). Fortunately, the bond they've built carries them through, while each has an unexpected gift for the other: when Kari offers to teach Papa once she's learned to read, it turns out he's already been learning, with Mama; and, after Papa demonstrates his new skill by reading her old favorite the new way, Kari asks to hear it ``again, like you always did.'' A sensitive, creatively plotted story, enhanced by the author's watercolors of middle- class African Americans; a natural pairing with Bunting's The Wednesday Surprise (1989). (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-747847-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1994
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
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
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