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
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily.
A group of young “dinosauruses” go out into the world on their own.
A fuchsia little Hugasaurus and her Pappysaur (both of whom resemble Triceratops) have never been apart before, but Hugasaurus happily heads off with lunchbox in hand and “wonder in her heart” to make new friends. The story has a first-day-of-school feeling, but Hugasaurus doesn’t end up in a formal school environment; rather, she finds herself on a playground with other little prehistoric creatures, though no teacher or adult seems to be around. At first, the new friends laugh and play. But Hugasaurus’ pals begin to squabble, and play comes to a halt. As she wonders what to do, a fuzzy platypus playmate asks some wise questions (“What…would your Pappy say to do? / What makes YOU feel better?”), and Hugasaurus decides to give everyone a hug—though she remembers to ask permission first. Slowly, good humor is restored and play begins anew with promises to be slow to anger and, in general, to help create a kinder world. Short rhyming verses occasionally use near rhyme but also include fun pairs like ripples and double-triples. Featuring cozy illustrations of brightly colored creatures, the tale sends a strong message about appropriate and inappropriate ways to resolve conflict, the final pages restating the lesson plainly in a refrain that could become a classroom motto. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-82869-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.
It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.
In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5378-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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