by Eve Bunting & illustrated by Timothy Bush ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 2002
Bunting (One Candle, below, etc.) shows her consummate talent as a storyteller in this simple but profound tale of a cricket who comes in from the cold to find warmth, light, companionship, and ultimately joy in his own little world. The story, told from the cricket’s point of view, follows the insect on his long journey into the house of a little girl and her father, who are celebrating Christmas Eve in a cheerful living room full of greenery and golden light. When the cricket hops up into a decorated Christmas tree next to an angel ornament, the little girl mistakes the cricket’s song for the angel’s voice. Her father explains: “Did you know that angels sing in the voices of birds, and frogs and people and crickets?” The cricket feels appreciated and sings his own joyful song as the little girl and her father sing “Joy to the World.” Bush’s watercolor illustrations bring the little cricket to life with his own personality, and the views of the candlelit Christmas scene effectively convey the warmth and transformative potential of the season. The story can serve as simply a satisfying tale of an endearing insect who finds his way or, on a deeper level, as a parable of the faith journey. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-06554-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
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by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2020
Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back.
Little Nutbrown Hare ventures out into the wide world and comes back with a new companion in this sequel to Guess How Much I Love You (1994).
Big Nutbrown Hare is too busy, so after asking permission, Little Nutbrown Hare scampers off over the rolling meadow to play by himself. After discovering that neither his shadow nor his reflection make satisfactory playmates (“You’re only another me!”), Little Nutbrown comes to Cloudy Mountain…and meets “Someone real!” It’s a white bunny who introduces herself as Tipps. But a wonderful round of digging and building and chasing about reaches an unexpected end with a game of hide-and-seek, because both hares hide! After waiting a long time to be found, Little Nutbrown Hare hops on home in disappointment, wondering whether he’ll ever see Tipps again. As it turns out, it doesn’t take long to find out, since she has followed him. “Now, where on earth did she come from?” wonders Big Nutbrown. “Her name is Tipps,” Little Nutbrown proudly replies, “and she’s my friend.” Jeram’s spacious, pale-toned, naturalistic outdoor scenes create a properly idyllic setting for this cozy development in a tender child-caregiver relationship—which hasn’t lost a bit of its appealing intimacy in the more than 25 years since its first appearance. As in the first, Big Nutbrown Hare is ungendered, facilitating pleasingly flexible readings.
Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1747-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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by Owen Hart ; illustrated by Sean Julian ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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