There's a beautiful pattern and rhythm in the sound and sense of this story, whose images echo the music of its language. In Mali, women make the bògòlan, a mud-dyed cloth, and a young girl named Nakunte Diarra learns the art from her mother. As she grows up, the whole village comes to her for cloth, and when she marries, she wears the bògòlan her mother made for her. Nakunte then begins to make a bògòlan for her own child, and she is inspired by the patterns in what is around her. "Listen, my baby, do you hear the drums that call?" she says, painting an abstract pattern of drum forms in cloth stripes. The leopard's spots, the scorpion's tail, the calabash flower, the turtledove's footprints, each creates a pattern that Nakunte paints into her cloth, speaking to her baby about the creatures she sees. The bògòlan is done when the rains come—the time for the baby—and the child is wrapped in the gorgeous black-and-white cloth. Winter uses colors as luscious as tropical fruit setting off the contrast of the shimmering bògòlan. The flattened picture space dances with shape and form: dots, leaves, triangles, stripes. Winter, as she did in My Name Is Georgia, uses a real artist's work as the basis for a visual feast. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 9, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-35103-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although far from unique, this gambol allows parents and children room to talk about seasonal weather and activities.
The delights of snow-day snow-play in a small town are enumerated in this early concept book for tots.
Snow falls overnight. In early morning, one puppy barks and two small children wake up. All three smile as they look out the window onto the snow-covered grass. Rhyming text sets a gentle pace as they venture outside: The humans pull on four boots, then the trio pulls their sled past five pine trees. In this childcentric tale (no adults in sight), they are soon joined by a diverse cast of six friends eager to sled, make snow angels, and build snowmen. (The two protagonist children have light-brown skin and straight, blue hair.) The spelled-out numbers appear in large colorful type, but numerals are not included—a lapse. Blue and white dominate the wintry palette, and the white landscape gives readers’ eyes plenty of space to focus on the items named and counted. A cozy feel is created by a series of soft, rounded shapes: puppy’s bed, children’s heads, snowballs, and pond. As the activities wind down, readers begin to count backward until the three are home again. The siblings enjoy two cups of cocoa and one puppy starts to doze.
Although far from unique, this gambol allows parents and children room to talk about seasonal weather and activities. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4586-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Intended as an amusing parody, this groans with outdated irrelevance and immaturity.
While spending the day with Grandpa, young Goldie offers tips on the care and keeping of grandparents.
Though “loyal and loving,” Goldie’s grandfather proves to be quite a character. At Grandparents Day at school, his loud greeting and incessant flatulence are embarrassing, but Goldie is confident that he—and all grandparents—can be handled with the “right care and treatment.” The young narrator notes that playtime should involve the imagination rather than technology—“and NO video games. It’s just too much for them.” Goldie observes that grandparents “live on a diet of all the things your parents tell them are bad for them” but finds that Grandpa’s favorite fast-food restaurant does make for a great meal out. The narrator advises that it’s important for grandparents to get plenty of exercise; Grandpa’s favorite moves include “the Bump, the Hustle, and the Funky Chicken.” The first-person instruction and the artwork—drawn in a childlike scrawl—portray this grandfather in a funny, though unflattering, stereotypical light as he pulls quarters from Goldie’s ears, burps on command, and invites Goldie to pull his finger. Goldie’s grandfather seems out of touch with today’s more tech-savvy and health-oriented older people who are eager to participate with their grandchildren in contemporary activities. Though some grandparent readers may chuckle, kids may wonder how this mirrors their own relationships. Goldie and Grandpa are light-skinned; Goldie’s classmates are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Intended as an amusing parody, this groans with outdated irrelevance and immaturity. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-24932-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
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