Inventive and fun: a sassy, vividly illustrated child’s introduction to the gifted Norwegian versifier.
Floridly illustrated nonsense verse, Norwegian style.
First published as Lille persillein 1961 and newly translated by Crook, this book brings the arresting combination of light verse from one of Norway’s most famous 20th-century poets and the ornate illustrations of the grandson of French post-impressionist Paul Gaugin to a U.S. audience. Hagerup published her first collection of poetry in 1939, and though she gained fame as a powerful voice in the Resistance when the Nazis occupied Norway, she was also beloved as a writer of children’s verse. Here Crook unleashes the sonic force of Hagerup’s rhymed lyric somersaults as she imagines the inner life of a host of common creatures: a crab, a “pondering” pig, a hedgehog, a wasp—even plants like gooseberries, chervil, sweet peas, and the eponymous parsley. She also introduces such memorable figures as “My Cousin,” who “wrangles reptiles / for the city fire station. / It is a marvelous vocation, / wrangling writhing reptiles,” and “my little niece Patrice, / who is permitted to run wild— / she is a beastly child.” Gaugin’s richly detailed pen-and-ink drawings, touched with pops of color, heighten Hagerup’s zaniness throughout the collection, here capturing cheeky Patrice onstage, ready to curtsy, with her tongue sticking out.
Inventive and fun: a sassy, vividly illustrated child’s introduction to the gifted Norwegian versifier. (Picture book/poetry. 3-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59270-286-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
A testament to the universality of love.
An expanded explanation of love in both English and Spanish.
Several animal personalities pose the question, “What is love?” and in a series of lift-the-flap responses present various emotional scenarios. Little Elephant asks Spider, “Is it the joy of having you around?” Spider asks, “Is it the way you lift me when I’m down?” Each page corresponds to a flap that reveals one of a multitude of feelings love can evoke in either an English or Spanish rhyme, which are not direct translations of each other. An interspersed refrain notes, “Amor for the Spanish, / and love en inglés. / Love in any language / always means the same.” A palette of pastels and purple and pink hues dominate as hearts abound on each page, surrounding the characters, who are adorable though on the overly sweet side. The characters are from the bilingual preschool series Canticos, though it will work even among those without knowledge of the show. Children more fluent in Spanish will be better able to appreciate this, and those familiar with the show will recognize the signature characters, including “Los Pollitos” (Little Chickies). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A testament to the universality of love. (Board book. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-945635-72-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s always tomorrow.
A lyrical message of perseverance and optimism.
The text uses direct address, which the title- and final-page illustrations suggest comes from an adult voice, to offer inspiration and encouragement. The opening spreads reads, “Tonight as you sleep, a new day stirs. / Each kiss good night is a wish for tomorrow,” as the accompanying art depicts a child with black hair and light skin asleep in a bed that’s fantastically situated in a stylized landscape of buildings, overpasses, and roadways. The effect is dreamlike, in contrast with the next illustration, of a child of color walking through a field and blowing dandelion fluff at sunrise. Until the last spread, each child depicted in a range of settings is solitary. Some visual metaphors falter in terms of credibility, as in the case of a white-appearing child using a wheelchair in an Antarctic ice cave strewn with obstacles, as the text reads “you’ll explore the world, only feeling lost in your imagination.” Others are oblique in attempted connections between text and art. How does a picture of a pale-skinned, black-haired child on a bridge in the rain evoke “first moments that will dance with you”? But the image of a child with pink skin and brown hair scaling a wall as text reads “there will be injustice that will challenge you, and it will surprise you how brave you can be” is clearer.
There’s always tomorrow. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-101-99437-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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