A bewitching bedtime story sure to charm the whole family.
“Anything can happen in the witching hour,” as one family learns while soothing their disgruntled baby.
This cozy picture book opens with a lush woodland spread depicting a home carved into a large tree. Inside, two parents (both long-haired, clad in skirts, and wearing acorns or flower petals as hats) and their little ones sit at a table. When the sun sets, it’s time for the witching hour. The world goes “topsy-turvy,” and anything is possible. After the baby spills a bottle on the table and cries with increasing volume, the family tries different ways of consoling the youngster, from swaying on a levitating broomstick to creating a magical parade of floating toys. Adults and older siblings will delight in the familiar, non-magical soothing tactics the characters try as well, such as bathing the child and offering snacks and favorite stuffed animals. Though a woodpecker’s “knock at the door” starts the baby crying again, and the parents’ faces begin looking more and more tired, sleep finally arrives. “The witching hour is over.” Each scene looks awash with magic, with detailed strokes created on vibrant backgrounds. Together, the art and the delightfully alliterative text result in a tale that’s both mystical and intimate. One parent is brown-skinned, while the other is light-skinned; the children are tan-skinned.
A bewitching bedtime story sure to charm the whole family. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781774884409
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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