The Paulsens’ picture book offers a tranquil, meditative idyll that glides as easily as a canoe on still water. The beauty of a solitary day on a lake springs to life through poetic words and serene illustrations, which are appropriately hazy and luminous by turns. But while the protagonist lazily paddles and rests, the natural world bustles around him: fish dart and feed under water; animals bathe and hunt in the wood; birds and insects flit overhead. This observant and understated look into nature is both soothing and surprising. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 9, 1999
ISBN: 0-385-32524-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1998
In a winning celebration of the many loving circles of relationships in an extended family, newcomer Zamorano and veteran Vivas have collaborated on a snapshot of two weeks in the lives of a large Spanish clan. Antonio, the narrator, is the smallest, and ``Mam† is the biggest. She is going to have a baby any day now.'' Every day at two o'clock, the family gathers at the big wooden table in the kitchen for a meal: ``When we are all at the table Mam† is happy.'' On Monday, one of the seven chairs is empty because Pap† must work. ``Ay, quÇ pena,'' sighs their mother. ``What a pity.'' A different person is absent each subsequent day. On Saturday, the missing person is Mam†, who has gone to the hospital to have a baby girl. It is Antonio's turn to sigh at the empty chair: ``Ay, quÇ pena!'' Two weeks later they're all together again, and Mam† sighs, ``QuÇ maravilla! How wonderful that everyone is eating together!'' Set in the author's native Spain, there is an effortless use of Spanish words and phrases (a glossary is included) throughout this enveloping and big-hearted book. Vivas's handsome, stylized watercolors make use of rounded forms- -bowls, table, Mama's belly, and, finally, the small head of Rosa, the new baby—to convey the warmth of the family circle. QuÇ maravilla, indeed. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-590-13444-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997
A driving beat powers this simple story of a boy who, merrily drumming with kitchen utensils, summons all the neighborhood kids to join him. The kids come en masse with buckets, barrels, pots, pans and anything that can make noise. The horde of drumming children marches down the city streets, disrupting the “humdrum of the city” with the rhythmic pounding of their makeshift drums. The adults in the city hear the rumbling and stop, waiting. When the kids march through the streets to their groovin’ beats, everyone starts jamming with them. Suddenly, “[t]the city becomes a city of drums, / banging and clanging as everyone comes. / A summer parade, a drummer parade, / a magical bucket-and-bowl serenade / in the heart / of a city of / drums.” Newton’s illustrations depict a multiethnic, multigenerational cast of characters in a vibrant urban setting. This one begs to be read aloud in a music or city-sounds storytime. But be forewarned—anything even remotely drum-like will not be safe for the rest of the day. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: June 8, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58246-308-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2010
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