A guidebook for those who believe “think like a Jewish robotic shark” is good advice.
Sharkbot could be any of us.
Anyone who’s ever felt frazzled may identify with the robot shark in this picture book, who has to prepare dinner for seven guests in time for the Jewish Sabbath. The metaphor isn’t even subtle. Sharkbot has a warning light that tells him he’s low on energy. A counter alerts him as his power level plunges from 10 to one, making this a sort of counting book in reverse. He shows his alarm the way, apparently, a robot shark does, with expressions like “Goodness gears” and “Slime of snail and tail of trout!” Readers will find this either endearing or baffling. The language in the book can be quaint and sometimes stilted: “Long strands of kelp he’s braiding through / give challah loaves a greenish hue.” Davey’s drawings are just as eccentric. They’re charmingly askew. Sharkbot’s eyebrows never quite match, and lines that should be parallel often aren’t. But his anxiety feels familiar and accessible. Sharkbot eventually finds a traditional Jewish solution to his problems. Spending the Sabbath with his friends renews him—but an electronic charger also helps. In an afterword, Waldman even says: “Shabbat is a time to ‘recharge our batteries.’ ” But she suggests a more contemporary method as well, with a list of detailed mindfulness techniques. This is both a universal story and an acquired taste.
A guidebook for those who believe “think like a Jewish robotic shark” is good advice. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68115-567-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Sugary uplift, shrink-wrapped for the masses.
An elusive new quarry leads the How To Catch… kids on a merry chase through a natural history museum.
Taking at least a step away from the “hunters versus prey” vibe of previous entries in the popular series, the racially diverse group of young visitors dashes through various museum halls in pursuit of the eponymous dino—whose quest to “spread kindness and joy ’round the world” takes the form of a mildly tumultuous museum tour. In most of Elkerton’s overly sweet, color-saturated scenes, only portions of the Loveosaurus, who is purple and covered with pink hearts, are visible behind exhibits or lumbering off the page. But the children find small enticements left behind, from craft supplies to make cards for endangered species to pictures of smiley faces, candy heart–style personal notes (“You Rock!” “Give Hugs”), and, in the hall of medieval arms and armor, a sign urging them to “Be Honest Be Kind.” The somewhat heavy-handed lesson comes through loud and clear. “There’s a message, he wants us to think,” hints Walstead to clue in more obtuse readers…and concluding scenes of smiling people young and otherwise exchanging hugs and knuckle bumps, holding doors for a wheelchair rider, and dancing through clouds of sparkles indicate that they, at least, have gotten it. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sugary uplift, shrink-wrapped for the masses. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 9781728268781
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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