This one’s for the birds.
Sparrows aren’t birdbrains!
When a little sparrow leaves her nest to investigate the big city, she starts on a journey that takes her all over New York City. Adopting the name Scoot—from the bustling pedestrians who constantly tell her to move aside—the sparrow meets older bird Scram, who shows her the ropes of living in the big city. Flying around a stylized Manhattan, the duo meet other sparrows, and the band of birds work together under Scoot’s leadership to help migrating birds overcome the confusing glow of the city at night. Overcome with pride, Scoot and company rename themselves with more stylish monikers. Like real sparrows on the sidewalk, the story jumps and flutters erratically. The plot isn’t helped by a rhyme scheme that doesn’t always work: “ ‘You need street smarts,’ / chirped an older bird. ‘Hop right! Hop left! / Like so, kid: / GO!’ / ‘Okay,’ she told him. / ‘I’ll give it a try.’ / In two smart hops, / she snatched / a French fry!” Combined with busy gouache and pencil illustrations, the book feels confounded and cluttered. The brief description of New York City Audubon’s program “Lights Out New York,” which, Manushkin explains in her author’s note, encourages buildings to turn off their lights during migration season, is interesting but doesn’t integrate smoothly. Overall, this is an intriguing idea but poorly executed. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This one’s for the birds. (illustrator’s note, list of NYC landmarks featured in the story, list of birds included in the book) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4254-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inspiration, shrink wrapped.
From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.
Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.
Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
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