First, a word for the anthologist: the 62 poems Whipple has assembled as companions to Carle's flamboyant art are so splendid that they could easily stand alone; such greats as Dickinson, Sandburg, and Kipling appear along with numerous children's favorites—e.g., Worth, Behn, Coatsworth. Mostly familiar, they also include a few surprises and some international entries. Altogether, they are so good that on first reading the yen to share them aloud is even greater than the yen to share the art—rich and wonderful as it is. Carle's technique—collages of textured, translucent tissue paper that he prepares himself, combined with directly painted areas—is familiar from his deservedly popular picture books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar: 6,000,000 copies). In this generously sized volume, it is used to full advantage. There's plenty of visual variety—a whale that stretches over two double spreads; a giraffe for which the book is turned 90 degrees; a few pages where several poems appear (each with its own small illustration); as well as many grand double spreads of creatures from tawny camels marching over the desert to a glorious blue-and-green hippo. No author index, but there is an index of animals as well as an index of first lines. A treat!
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 1989
ISBN: 0399217444
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1989
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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