A sweet, icy treat that will warm your heart.
A charming bedtime story sure to prompt sweet dreams.
One “very, very hot night in the middle of summer,” the moon begins to melt. Trying in vain to get to sleep, the residents of a cramped apartment building turn on their air conditioners and fans, and leave their fridges open, causing a power outage! Granny, in Apt. 503, is the only resident to have noticed the moon dripping away to nothing, and she races outside to catch the drops to mix up a frozen treat: the titular moon pops, which are icy and sweet, melt away the heat. All is finally quiet, until two rabbits come knocking at the door—they have come from the moon, which has melted away. But no worries, Granny has just the solution. 2020 Astrid Lindgren Award winner Baek draws gently on Korean folklore while keeping her feet firmly planted in the modern day, with some delicious visual texture. Dreamy illustrations are crafted from dioramas and cut-paper charcoal drawings, with a softly glowing candle-flame–colored moon and friends and neighbors who are a variety of creatures but all wearing summery human pajamas. Whimsically varied perspectives and the unusual depth of field offered by Baek’s technique make for an entrancing display. Granny is a bespectacled wolf.
A sweet, icy treat that will warm your heart. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77147-429-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet fare for bed- or naptimes, with a light frosting of natural history.
A sonorous, soporific invitation to join woodland creatures in bedding down for the night.
As in her Moon Babies, illustrated by Amy Hevron (2019), Jameson displays a rare gift for harmonious language and rhyme. She leads off with a bear: “Come home, Big Paws. / Berry picker / Honey trickster / Shadows deepen in the glen. / Lumber back inside your den.” Continuing in the same pattern, she urges a moose (“Velvet Nose”), a deer (“Tiny Hooves”), and a succession of ever smaller creatures to find their nooks and nests as twilight deepens in Boutavant’s woodsy, autumnal scenes and snow begins to drift down. Through each of those scenes quietly walks an alert White child (accompanied by an unusually self-controlled pooch), peering through branches or over rocks at the animals in the foregrounds and sketching them in a notebook. The observer’s turn comes round at last, as a bearded parent beckons: “This way, Small Boots. / Brave trailblazer / Bright stargazer / Cabin’s toasty. Blanket’s soft. / Snuggle deep in sleeping loft.” The animals go unnamed, leaving it to younger listeners to identify each one from the pictures…if they can do so before the verses’ murmurous tempo closes their eyes.
Sweet fare for bed- or naptimes, with a light frosting of natural history. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7063-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
But it is the parting sentence that will hit home with everyone: “But Rufus loved storytime most of all… / …because it gave...
Rufus Leroy Williams III is determined to learn how to read, but can he convince Principal Lipid to allow a pig in school?
Rufus makes the best of his illiteracy by imagining his own stories to go with the pictures in his favorite book, but still he longs to read. The tiny pig knows just how to solve his problem, though: With a backpack, he can go to school. But Principal Lipid seems to think it takes more than a backpack to attend school—if you are a pig, that is, since pigs are sure to wreak all sorts of havoc in school: track mud, start food fights, etc. Rufus decides a lunchbox is just the ticket, but the principal feels differently. Maybe a blanket for naptime? Or promises not to engage in specific behaviors? Nope. But the real necessary items were with Rufus all along—a book and the desire to learn to read it. Gorbachev’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations emphasize Rufus’ small size, making both his desire and the principal’s rejection seem that much larger. Parents and teachers beware: The humorous pages of imagined, naughty behavior may be more likely to catch children’ eyes than Rufus’ earnestly good behavior.
But it is the parting sentence that will hit home with everyone: “But Rufus loved storytime most of all… / …because it gave him room to dream.” (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4549-0416-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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