Well-meaning but unrealistic. Unlikely to induce calm.
Roberts, a child psychologist, distills the concept of psycho-emotional “co-regulation” for parents of babies and toddlers.
The first-person narrator begins with a vow—“My dear little one, if you are upset, I promise to share my calm”—then goes on to articulate simple methods for dealing with an upset or overstimulated youngster. These include rocking, holding hands, listening, using a gentle voice, and deep breathing. This straightforward and practical lead-in is followed by a positive intention, broken up over three double-page spreads: “I’ll help you understand these big feelings and teach you that you have a choice. // To honor your emotions and then let them go, // Making yourself feel better.” Unfortunately, this prognostication feels like sentimental cant and is too vague to be very helpful. On the final verso, the narrator reminds the child that “you can always count on my unconditional love and for me to share my calm,” a sweet guarantee marred by a glaring grammatical error. The simple text appears isolated on elegant pastel backgrounds with white botanical silhouettes. The visuals consist of crisp, heartwarming photos in warm tones that depict racially diverse caregivers holding and comforting tots, including but not limited to an interracial couple, a brown-skinned woman wearing a hijab, and an elderly White woman. Implausibly, none of these adults look tired, stressed, or agitated, even in the face of meltdown or tantrums.
Well-meaning but unrealistic. Unlikely to induce calm. (Board book. Birth-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4598-3099-8
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Stunning, poetic, and playful, this one is a delight for all ages.
A joint introduction to fine art and the importance of sleep.
This exquisite board book will retain its visual value forever—certainly long after children have moved on beyond the format. That said, the simple concepts in this book are conveyed with an elegance, wonder, and joy that complement the artwork perfectly. The book is separated into five thematic sections, each introduced in bold on a bright, monochromatic page with a simple statement or phrase: “Everyone sleeps”; “You need to sleep...”; “If you don’t sleep enough, you may feel...”; “It’s bedtime when...”; and “Dream!” Works reflecting each of these themes follow, as the text amplifies or completes the thought. The consequences of lack of sleep are portrayed by, among others, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Picasso’s Weeping Woman, and Matisse’s Still Life With Sleeping Woman, which is accompanied by the warning, “But don’t fall asleep in your food!” Other featured artists include, among others, Hiroshige, Takashi Murakami, Diego Rivera, Georgia O’Keefe, Winslow Homer, Jordan Casteel, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Horace Pippen, and Paola Pivi (represented by an installation of life-size, neon, stuffed bears). The portraits included reflect a mix of races, primarily white and black, with one Latinx mother and child and one Asian child.
Stunning, poetic, and playful, this one is a delight for all ages. (Board book. 2-8)Pub Date: May 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7148-7865-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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