For nature lovers or those seeking season-relevant meditations for classroom reflection and discussion.
A full-color experience of the seasons in Canada’s north.
In Bentley’s poetic text, the smell of “fragrant muskeg rose” and the climbing sun welcome readers to the north’s summer. In the accompanying illustration, readers notice two brown-skinned children paddling a rowboat in a pond. As the story continues, these same children take part in other activities as well: berry picking, swimming, playing in the rain, and staying up late. Soon summer fades, and outdoor labors shift to fish drying and food storing. With “summer north waving” goodbye, the children spend the longer evenings indoors with three characters assumed to be family: darker-skinned mother and grandmother and their lighter-skinned father. When winter finally arrives, the piles of snow offer their own unique moments of fun—outside and indoors—with a multicultural cast of friends and their families. Although strongly visual phrases, such as “stained hands” (from “summer pick berries”) and “trees flaming yellow,” combine with equally bold phrases that appeal to the other senses to create a lyrical celebration of life in all its cycles, readers desiring a plot-driven tale or one rich in character development will notice their absences. Additionally, while Bartram’s texture-creating techniques enhance muted, earthy-toned illustrations, providing the depth and nuance found in nature, an overall lack of cultural specifics (beaded leather footwear is a notable exception) gives the double-page spreads an emotional flatness.
For nature lovers or those seeking season-relevant meditations for classroom reflection and discussion. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-55455-465-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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