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YOU ARE THE PEA, AND I AM THE CARROT

Name: YOU ARE THE PEA, AND I AM THE CARROT
Author: J. Theron Elkins
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0850-3

by J. Theron Elkins illustrated by Pascal Lemaître ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2013

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This slight, rhyming ode—from one mate to another—employs food pairings as metaphors for the couple’s synchronous relationship, an odd subject for a children’s book.

“You are the pea, / And I am the carrot. // I am the butter, and you are the bread. / Warm fried chicken served with mashed potatoes, // Zesty dressing on a cold lettuce bed.” Four additional quatrains sling similar imagery, sandwiched between four-line choruses like “We belong together. / We’re such a tasty sweet. / We’re yummy, scrumptious morsels. / We’re the perfect little treat.” Awkward elision is sometimes deployed for the sake of scansion: “ ’mallows” and “ ’jacks” are a bit bewildering without their respective “marsh” and “flap.” Lemaitre’s pale, digitally colored drawings stage the personified food duos in whimsical, cartoonish settings: Blueberries dive into a cup of yogurt under a circus tent; a funnel cake skis down a hill of powdered sugar. The girl and boy (both Caucasian) are depicted with enough ambiguity that readers can, by preference, interpret them as adults, teens or kids. While some pictorial details amuse, the green tint of “a glass of sweet tea” strikes a slightly discordant note. The verse verges on doggerel. The text’s springboard is a cherished, symbiotic adult relationship (as Elkins’ dedication attests), which is lovely—but this sugarcoated attempt to render it palatable to children falls as flat as a ’jack. A few funny visuals fail to redeem a saccharine premise. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4197-0850-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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HEDGEHOGS DON'T WEAR UNDERWEAR

by Marissa Valdez ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2025

Sure to have little ones giggling.

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Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”

Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.

Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: April 1, 2025

ISBN: 9781250814388

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)