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
Uplifting and inspiring of further research.
A bilingual love poem of admiration and respect for the millions of monarch butterflies that journey south to Mexico every year.
From a chrysalis on the title page, Señorita Mariposa invites readers to follow the monarch butterfly as it embarks on a journey spanning thousands of miles, “Over mountains capped with snow… / To the deserts down below.” In the same manner, the monarch butterfly exiting the chrysalis at the end of the book then invites readers to flip back to the beginning and restart the journey. Almada Rivero’s warm and friendly illustrations showcase the various people and animals the monarch encounters in its 3,000-mile journey, including a couple of brown-skinned children who welcome Señorita Mariposa to Mexico as the text reads, “Can’t believe how far you’ve come.” Gundersheimer’s recounting of the lepidoptera’s journey is told in a bilingual poem, English set in a serif type and Spanish set in sans-serif. Like the butterfly traveling south and north, the languages switch prominence, displaying in the larger font the principal—and rhyming—language in each spread. Although at times distracting, this technique is a valiant attempt to give equal importance to each language. Backmatter includes facts on the round trip the butterflies undertake, the “super generation” that makes the trek south, and a call to action to protect the monarchs as they slowly lose their habitats.
Uplifting and inspiring of further research. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4070-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Feel-good, make-believe fun.
Fox and friends play an imaginative game of pretend.
While reading a book about tigers, Fox (Fox and the Bike Ride, 2017, etc.) wishes they were Tiger. “Tigers are big. / Tigers are fast. / Tigers are sneaky. // Tigers are the best,” Fox reads. Paintbrush in hand, they paint their fur with stripes to transform into Tiger. Then, on a prowl, Tiger comes upon Turtle. Turtle initially mistakes Tiger for Fox before they are corrected. The exchange sparks an idea in Turtle, who disappears and comes back as Race Car: “I zip and zoom.” Rabbit, a bystander, also gains inspiration. They disappear, return wearing a cardboard box, and reveal that they are now Robot: “I beep bop boop.” The trio plays until a sudden rain washes away their disguises. But all is not lost: A passer-by, Squirrel, exclaims that Fox (as Fox) is “the best,” no stripes needed. Using fewer than 60 words, Tabor creates a wonderful arc that includes an open ending (Squirrel paints themselves orange in the wordless final spread). The digitally rendered cartoon illustrations—originally created with pencil, watercolor, and crayon—are energetic and expressive. The overarching message of self-love is a good one, but the no-fuss acceptance of changing identities in text and dialogue (even if they are just pretend) is even better.
Feel-good, make-believe fun. (Early reader. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-239867-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
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