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MAYBE MOTHER GOOSE

Name: MAYBE MOTHER GOOSE
Author: Esmé Raji Codell
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4036-3

by Esmé Raji Codell ; illustrated by Elisa Chavarri ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While there’s rhyme, this text lacks reason.

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Nursery rhymes provide playful opportunities for a diverse classroom.

Readers familiar with Codell’s work may recognize that Chavarri models the teacher character after her in the colorful, digital illustrations. The teacher greets a multiracial group of children entering her nursery school classroom in frontmatter pages. And the text begins with a brief Q-and-A: “Circle time? Yes. Playing with friends? Yes. Indoor recess? NOOOOO!” The teacher holds up a Mother Goose book to entice her disappointed charges, who stand looking out at the rain in the last part of this exchange. The subsequent double-page spread doesn’t seem quite to follow, as it first shows the “Twinkle Twinkle” rhyme and then depicts a pajama-clad black child answering “Yes” to “Window?” “Star?” “Wish?” and “NOOOOO!” to “Space aliens?” But then a page turn delivers the equivocal verdict “Well, maybe” and shows the child cavorting in a fantastic outer-space scene with extraterrestrials, spaceships, and the cow jumping over the moon. (Is this indoor recess?) The Q-and-A pattern continues with other rhymes until the book’s end, when it returns to classroom, teacher, and children, who can now go outside to play since the rain, rain’s gone away.

While there’s rhyme, this text lacks reason. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4814-4036-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
SEED BY SEED
by Esmé Raji Codell & illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S TIME FOR PRESCHOOL!
by Esmé Raji Codell & illustrated by Sue Ramá

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BASKET BALL
by Esmé Raji Codell & illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

by Nosy Crow ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2018

As a book, mildly satisfying; as a greeting card, rather expensive.

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A cheery board book that plays the familiar tune.

Anthropomorphic animals, digitally illustrated with a vintage style and palette, play different musical instruments as they make their ways to a cafe to celebrate Otter’s birthday. There’s not much of a story arc in its 10 pages, which lends the book a greeting-card feel. Each spread highlights an animal or two and their respective instruments: Bear plays a flute, Badger strums a guitar, Wolf drives by with a bass in its truck, Cat plays violin, and birthday boy Otter hears Moose on the piano. Press a shiny musical note in each illustration, and the book plays an instrumental line from the familiar song. The quality of the recordings is quite good, capturing the sound and tone of each instrument, and the culminating spread is an ensemble playing the full song. A “glowing candle” is promoted on the cover along with the book’s musical feature, and it appears on a cake on the final spread when all the animals from the prior pages gather to celebrate Otter’s special day. In a potentially confusing turn, Wolf holds the cake instead of playing bass (a fox has stepped in), and an opossum and a rabbit play tambourine, though they weren’t pictured with instruments earlier.

As a book, mildly satisfying; as a greeting card, rather expensive. (Board book. 3-5)

Pub Date: April 10, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9943-7

Page Count: 10

Publisher: Nosy Crow

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
LOIS LOOKS FOR BOB AT THE BEACH
by Nosy Crow ; illustrated by Gerry Turley

- BOOK REVIEW
FIRST WORDS
by Nosy Crow ; illustrated by The Trustees of the British Museum

- BOOK REVIEW
LOIS LOOKS FOR BOB AT HOME
by Nosy Crow ; illustrated by Gerry Turley

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HUSH, LITTLE BUNNY

by David Ezra Stein ; illustrated by David Ezra Stein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 2019

While this hardly reinvents the wheel, it is a solid addition to the children’s lullaby-book genre.

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Spend the day with a little bunny and their papa as they explore the world around them to the familiar tune of “Hush, Little Baby.”

“Hush, little bunny, don’t you cry. // Papa’s gonna give you the big blue sky. / And if that big blue sky clouds over, // Papa’s gonna give you a patch of clover.” The winter snow has melted, and Papa is ready to take his little bunny out into the beautiful spring world. From tasty patches of clover to nibble to scary hawks to hide from, Papa teaches little bunny everything they need to know about being a bunny in the meadow. More importantly, he shows that he will always be there for the little bunny. Charming illustrations bring the bunny duo to life and will certainly catch children’s eyes right off the bat. Done in Stein’s characteristically loose and scratchy style, the bunnies frolic and gambol with abandon. Despite the reference to danger in the form of the hawks, the illustration depicts them wheeling in the sky in the distance; when the bunnies take shelter, they are cozily nestled in a burrow with no predator in sight. Caregivers will be sure to relate to the loving papa bunny, while children will enjoy singing along to the lullaby.

While this hardly reinvents the wheel, it is a solid addition to the children’s lullaby-book genre. (Picture book. 3-5)