An earnest animal tale that could use a less obscure moral.
The team of Brooks and Goldstein (Bubbies-Babies Presents: Celebrating Differences, 2017) continues its picture book series with this sequel about self-acceptance.
Using the conceit that the anthropomorphized young animals in grandmother black bear Bubbie’s classroom are trying to find themselves, this rhyming text is accompanied by computer-generated images. The pictures reveal well-executed, child-friendly characters searching different locations. First, Piper the horse explores her room, then thinks perhaps the last place she saw herself was on the playground. There, Decker the cheetah examines all of the equipment for himself before checking the lost-and-found box. The things he finds prompt zebra siblings Michael and Lee to hunt for themselves at the beach. Shane the turtle, who uses a wheelchair, checks for himself at the bakery. Leslie the cat thinks maybe she’s at the house of Evan the anteater. Teri the dog looks for herself at home. After taking a bath, she wipes steam from the mirror and spies her own face. Goldstein’s illustrations are cute and Brooks’ rhymes, while uneven and poorly spaced on the page, making the stanza ends hard to find, work rhythmically when read aloud. But the message will go over the heads of young readers, who will likely see the silliness of looking for yourself as a goofy game.
An earnest animal tale that could use a less obscure moral.Pub Date: June 23, 2018
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Black Cherry Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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