A closer-to-perfect pairing couldn’t be imagined. Everyone wins! (Picture book. 4-10)
Peer through the mists and learn the origin of the game that has resolved playground disputes beyond number.
“Long ago, in an ancient and distant realm called the Kingdom of Backyard, there lived a warrior named Rock.” Rock travels far and wide searching for an adversary that might best him. The clothespin fails in battle, and the tangy sweetness of the apricot is easily squashed. Meanwhile, in the Empire of Mom’s Home Office and the Kitchen Realm, respectively, Paper and Scissors set out on similar quests. Each trounces every foe. The likes of Computer Printer cannot stand against Paper (paper jam!). And the Dinosaur-Shaped Chicken Nuggets are snipped into submission by Scissors. Then Rock meets Scissors and thrashes her. She is pleased, but Rock feels he might never find his challenger until Paper arrives, uttering the fighting words “Hi there.” The rest is history. Daywalt’s silly tale unfolds in hilariously overblown text that is further melodramatized with ample and emphatic use of various display types. It is deliciously illustrated in true Rex style with wackily anthropomorphic inanimate objects and action-packed scenes. Rock is particularly funny, depicted as a small, Easter Island–type boulder with an outsized personality. Cheeky humor and prideful asides will have listeners in stitches.
A closer-to-perfect pairing couldn’t be imagined. Everyone wins! (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-243889-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This book sings.
Hamilton star Soo’s debut picture book centers on a young girl confronting stage fright.
Piper Chen twirls through her days with her mouth wide open. When Mr. Harris, her music teacher, asks Piper if she’d like to sing a solo in the Spring Sing, she immediately answers, “Yes!” But later, she finds herself frozen during practice. Later, Piper’s grandmother Nǎi Nai notices that Piper isn’t singing, and Piper explains about the solo and the butterflies in her stomach. Nǎi Nai understands and explains that she experienced “húdié” (Chinese for butterflies) at her first piano recital. They also visited whenever something exciting was ahead, like when she left China for America, when she graduated from music school, and when she became a U.S. citizen. “Now, when they greet me, I greet them back. ‘Hello, húdié. Nǐ hǎo.’” The night of the show, Piper feels the butterflies flapping their wings. She hums to herself, “Hello, húdié” and sings. Soo and Pasquale Doran sensitively capture the anxiety of performing and draw parallels with other life changes while giving readers a concrete tool for addressing those butterflies. Leng’s delicate, expressive ink, watercolor, and oil pastel illustrations capture Piper’s enthusiasm and uncertainty as well as Nǎi Nai’s loving warmth, working seamlessly with the text in vignettes and full spreads. Piper Chen and Nǎi Nai are Chinese American; Mr. Harris is brown-skinned.
This book sings. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593564691
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Black and brown nature lovers, here’s one to read and share
Mother-daughter author-illustrator team Anne (who passed away in April 2018) and Lizzy Rockwell have crafted a quiet story that positively portrays a black family spending time in nature. While this shouldn’t be a news flash in 2018, it is.
A black family—mom, dad, and daughter—drives 20 minutes away from their suburb for a day hike up Hickory Hill, where they enjoy the flora, fauna, and autumnal changes. The higher they climb, the sparser the vegetation becomes until they reach the summit and take in the expansive views. This picture book offers a rare snapshot of a family of color spending quality family time in the woods. Since they think they are lost at one point, perhaps they have not hiked often, but this does not dampen their enthusiasm. Several animals make an appearance in the watercolor illustrations, done in a soft, mostly pastel palette, including a porcupine, birds, a deer, a chipmunk, and a toad. The young female narrator describes the woodpecker she sees as redheaded; this, too, suggests that she hasn’t done much bird-watching since the bird is a pileated woodpecker, and a kid who had grown up birding would know it by both sound and sight. Still, readers will appreciate the daughter’s delight as she chooses the trail to hike and really notices her surroundings.
Black and brown nature lovers, here’s one to read and share . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2737-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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