Mother and daughter’s latest collaboration is a wintry lullaby for hibernating animals. Gentle rhyming verses sing the creatures off to dreamland, while also providing at least one fact about each long, winter nap, i.e., frogs sleep under the ice at the bottom of a stream while snakes breathe more slowly. The final page sends a young child off to sleep, cozy and warm in bed, and surrounded by stuffed versions of all the hibernating animals. Dyer’s artwork is a mixture of realistically portrayed animals and fanciful notions of what their homes and clothes might look like. While some will be viewed by young children as cute animals in their houses, other illustrations will confuse the younger audience for whom this book is intended. So, for instance, the box turtle sleeps in a hammock underground with boxing gloves on and jump-rope in hand. A good read-aloud for a particularly cold and frosty night, it’s just too bad the busy artwork with hidden meanings works against the gentle lullaby. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-06-081560-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2007
A more perfect union between giggle-inducing but reassuring images and a text of very few words is hard to conjure. The brilliant pastels open on a double-page spread of Goose trotting down a huge hairy mound, which turns out to be Bear, lying on his stomach with a book. “What are you doing? Are you reading?” asks Goose, perched on Bear’s head. “I like to read” says Goose, sitting directly in front of Bear’s book, and reading to him. Bear takes out his notebook and starts to write, and Goose wants Bear to see him write. Bear, visibly growing increasingly exasperated, is thinking now, and Goose notes that thinking makes him hungry and goes off to make a snack. He returns with a snack, a blanket and a note for Bear, who at this point is trying to hide behind his notebook. “You are my splendid friend,” reads Goose’s note, and Bear wipes away a tear and wraps Goose in a huge hug before the two sit down to share the snack. Bear’s ursine fuzziness against a background of deep blues and Goose’s small awkward, overeager self make an adorable contrast. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-59078-286-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2005
A tender book to help little ones make sense of the emotions around prayer.
Actor Metz and songwriter Collins join illustrator Fields in their second faith-related title for young children.
Instead of focusing on the language of prayer—what to say or how to say it—this book explores a topic central to the lives of the very young: their feelings around talking to God. Rhymes and near-rhymes in the AABB verses enumerate the simple challenges and triumphs experienced by a series of animals: “Sometimes I’m sad, not sure what to do. / There are days I feel teary, unhappy, or blue. / I fell off a log. I’m embarrassed and hurt. / My coat and paws are all covered in dirt.” An accompanying illustration depicts a sad wolf pup, a definite contrast to its siblings, who are delighting in their play. The highlight of the book is Fields’ animal characters. Whether happy, nervous, or sad, their expressive faces are easy to read, and their feelings will be familiar to young tots. The beaver’s frustration is palpable, and the tears in the scared raccoon’s eyes may just make readers’ own eyes well up. Some of the animals have a God stand-in to help them with their feelings—a friend or family member—but the final spread shows all the individual animals coming together in a couple of group hugs that express where children can find support (and sweetly defy predator–prey relationships).
A tender book to help little ones make sense of the emotions around prayer. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593691366
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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