Purposive but pleasing, this gentle lesson in diversity, diligence and the dignity of hard work offers an appealing balance...
Shannon and Paschkis provide a charming multicultural answer to the title question, creating in the process a confection that, while it may be most appreciated by socially conscious adults, will tempt young appetites as well.
The brief text is composed of rhyming couplets that appear as two phrases on facing pages or as several short sentences across multiple pages or double-page spreads. The actions described may be quite different, but many of the simple sentences start the same way, keeping the focus squarely on the workers and their contributions: “Hands that make the cookie sheet”; “Hands that feed and milk the cow.” While some of the locations may seem exotic, the mother and child busy baking in their cozy kitchen will be familiar to many young readers. Paschkis’ folk-art–inspired gouache illustrations suit the simple language and the sentiment conveyed perfectly. Brightly colored, graphically appealing cookies on the cover invite readers to sample the story within, while the repeating motifs of sunshine, flowers, birds and butterflies that decorate the cookie jar appear again dancing in the blue sky and decorating the fertile land. Shannon ends with a recipe for sugar cookies, just in case readers are inspired to bake a few themselves.
Purposive but pleasing, this gentle lesson in diversity, diligence and the dignity of hard work offers an appealing balance of art and information. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9197-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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