Florian continues his poetic exploration of the entire animal kingdom, last visited in lizards, frogs, and polliwogs (2001), with this seventh entry in his successful series, following the same distinctive format: a large, square size with each short poem facing a full-page illustration. The 21 poems (with all but one rhyming) include “Dog Log” and “Cat Chat” to introduce the reader to more general characteristics, nine poems about specific dog breeds, and one about cousin wolf. Ten additional poems are about cats, mainly larger, wild cats such as the cheetah, the ocelot, and the poetically named jaguarundi, who “likes to play in jaguarundi-wear.” Three selections are concrete poems, and a four-line poem, “The Dalmatian,” has every letter o filled in to create an additional kind of spot. Several of the poems end with a dash of Ogden Nash panache: the bloodhound with senses that are “scent-sational” or the one-line question-shaped poem about the ocelot: “Why ocelots have lots of spots puzzles ocelot.” Florian’s playful watercolor illustrations have their usual understated charm, with muted tones, bold lines, and clever touches of offbeat humor. It’s rhyming cats and dogs for sure, and the creative Florian poetic zoo continues to grow. (Poetry. 4-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-216395-6
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2003
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
Perfectly dazzling.
A lyrical, spirited picture book that takes the old “yo’ mama” joke and cracks, snaps, and pops it into an ode to motherhood.
Using a vibrant tattoo motif, colorful, joy-infused artwork, and playful, melodic words, Ramos and Alcántara’s winning picture book celebrates motherhood at its most inspirational. A child and a mother—both with brown skin, long, wavy black hair, and long, bold limbs—spend their days baking and playing, picnicking and protesting, going to the library and taking road trips. It starts with a honeyed bang: “Your Mama So Sweet, She Could Be a Bakery,” spelled out on a ribbon that could adorn a sailor’s arm as narration in regular type expands on this. Each subsequent double-page spread echoes these words (“Your Mama…”), highlighting how this mom’s “so strong,” “so forgiving,” and “so woke.” Notably, readers see a mom that stands alone, strong and defiant, as she walks into her child’s Parent Night at school and strolls through a neighborhood full of friends and passersby. Ramos conjures jubilant scene after scene with deft language and sprinkles of Spanish, and this tale’s more sublime moments (“Your Mama a Brainiac—mo’ betta than any app”) simply shine. Similarly, Alcántara’s art represents motherhood as a model of ideals and mind spun for modern times, both indebted to and limited by the specific type of mother of color depicted here. Overall, it’s a celebration that’s invaluable and needed. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Perfectly dazzling. (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-328-63188-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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