Captivating visuals will prompt conversations about the feelings and choices of victim, friend, and community
Glynn introduces Rain Boy and Sun Kidd—and then presents children’s contrasting reactions to their essences.
The young people are glum or angry when Rain Boy, depicted as a puffy, blue cloud, drips on their outdoor play. Sun, a glowing girl of color, is welcomed happily, however. The tension between the two climaxes during her birthday, when Rain Boy’s presence floods the basement, threatening the cake and presents. The guests encircle the cloud, crying: “Rain, Rain, go away!” Sun escapes to her room. Glynn’s watercolor, cut-paper, pastel, and colored-pencil caricatures and tableaux channel both a delightfully childlike aesthetic and emotionally charged expressionism. Sun’s bed is draped in golden curtains in the upper corner of a space defined by the strong diagonals of a wrought-iron balcony and foreshortened ladder. A black, starry sky frames the yellow/orange interior, which is dominated by a Calder-esque mobile. After Rain Boy storms off, the downpour continues until the children start appreciating both one another and puddles. This coaxes the celestial protagonists outside, where a rainbow appears: “So next time you’re feeling down and your world is dark and gray…just look up.” As convenient and lovely as this spread is, the message does not quite apply to Rain Boy, nor is it completely transferable to an ostracized reader, thus sapping the book of some of its logic and power.
Captivating visuals will prompt conversations about the feelings and choices of victim, friend, and community .(Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7280-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
WOO-HOO! This is the perfect way to foster healthy self-esteem in little ones.
What’s better than a cheerleading chicken?
Are you ever blue, unsure, tired, or overworked? Do you ever feel lost or overwhelmed? This uplifting book, expressed in delightful, jaunty verse, explains how to lift your spirits pronto: What you need is a booster chicken telling you’re doing great even when you’re not so confident, as when you’re learning or practicing a new skill, for instance. Your feathered champion will be right there, encouraging you all the way, with a loud “WOO HOO!” that’ll keep you going and remove any doubt you’re super terrific. But what if your cheerful chick errs and doesn’t do what it set out to do? Don’t worry—your cheery chicken just needs a reminder that everyone makes mistakes. That alone is a pep talk, enhanced by the wisdom that making mistakes allows everyone to learn and demonstrate they did their best. So forgive yourself, chickens! But the best thing is…instead of relying on someone else—like a chicken—to strengthen your ego, say a generous daily “WOO HOO!” to yourself. This riotous book hits all the right notes and does so succinctly and hilariously. The energetic, comical illustrations, in Boynton’s signature style, will elicit giggles and go far to make the book’s important point. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
WOO-HOO! This is the perfect way to foster healthy self-esteem in little ones. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-316-48679-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
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