Anna, a spirited girl of about 3, exhibits many of the symptoms of boredom—until a museum guard gives her and her mother a special opportunity.
From the moment Anna sits frowning on a tired-looking, aquamarine sofa, waiting for her mother to pay admission, text and art combine to create a funny frolic through the galleries. While Anna and the other museum visitors are cartoonlike in appearance, the artworks on each page are excellent reproductions of works found in art museums around the world (a key is in the backmatter). The sight gags are playful and plentiful, revolving around the resemblance of people and things in the gallery to the art on display—which is, of course, the point of the book. Children will enjoy detecting the artistic echoes of real life on every page. Some are subtle, but others will bring immediate laughter—as when Anna inadvertently sets off an alarm and the faces and hands of adults in the gallery resemble those in Edvard Munch’s The Scream. Text is in clear, sans-serif type, and it includes this wistful thought from a subdued Anna as she gazes out the window (at a Monet-esque harbor scene): “If only the museum could be turned inside out. Or the world outside in.” Her epiphany is on the way. Anna and her mom have brown skin and straight, black hair; other museumgoers are diverse.
Clever and endearing. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77321-043-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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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
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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What’s better than a cheerleading chicken?
Are you ever blue, unsure, tired, or overworked? Do you ever feel lost or overwhelmed? This uplifting book, expressed in delightful, jaunty verse, explains how to lift your spirits pronto: What you need is a booster chicken telling you’re doing great even when you’re not so confident, as when you’re learning or practicing a new skill, for instance. Your feathered champion will be right there, encouraging you all the way, with a loud “WOO HOO!” that’ll keep you going and remove any doubt you’re super terrific. But what if your cheerful chick errs and doesn’t do what it set out to do? Don’t worry—your cheery chicken just needs a reminder that everyone makes mistakes. That alone is a pep talk, enhanced by the wisdom that making mistakes allows everyone to learn and demonstrate they did their best. So forgive yourself, chickens! But the best thing is…instead of relying on someone else—like a chicken—to strengthen your ego, say a generous daily “WOO HOO!” to yourself. This riotous book hits all the right notes and does so succinctly and hilariously. The energetic, comical illustrations, in Boynton’s signature style, will elicit giggles and go far to make the book’s important point. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
WOO-HOO! This is the perfect way to foster healthy self-esteem in little ones. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-316-48679-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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