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MY GRANDPA'S CHAIR

Name: MY GRANDPA'S CHAIR
Author: Jiyeon Pak
ISBN: 978-1-5247-0075-1

by Jiyeon Pak ; illustrated by Jiyeon Pak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2017

Pak’s heartening tale about intergenerational caring warms the soul.

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A granddaughter wants to find the perfect chair to cheer her grandfather up but learns it’s the company you sit with that matters most.

Grandpa used to love sitting on the couch and reading, but not anymore. His granddaughter, a little brunette with pigtail poofs, assumes the couch itself is the cause for his discontent, so she takes him furniture shopping. Together they test and measure their options until Grandpa orders a custom-built chair—that’s too fancy to use. Hoping to lift his spirits, the peach-complexioned girl suggests the park, where, as they sit side by side on a stump and read, Grandpa finds his happy place. Playful end pages showcase the artist’s strength at creating attractive and unusual elements with simple colors and patterns. This naïve style is applied with skill; however, the artist’s use of digital tools to collage her elements yields work that lacks the spontaneity of analog. The girl’s ebullience and the sheer good-heartedness of the story help to compensate for this. Observant readers may find cause for Grandpa’s sadness, as framed pictures show Grandpa with a smiling, gray-haired woman who is absent from the story.

Pak’s heartening tale about intergenerational caring warms the soul. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5247-0075-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
FINDING GRANDMA'S MEMORIES
by Jiyeon Pak ; illustrated by Jiyeon Pak

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THERE'S A ROCK CONCERT IN MY BEDROOM

by Kevin Jonas & Danielle Jonas ; illustrated by Courtney Dawson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2022

Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.

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Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.

Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: March 29, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THERE'S A BEACH IN MY BEDROOM
by Kevin Jonas & Danielle Jonas ; illustrated by Courtney Dawson

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)