While there’s no plot to speak of, this engaging tale paints a kid-friendly portrait of the joys of life on the Thames.
A rhyming debut picture book explores the average day of a cat who lives on a boat in London.
Fernando, whose paws have “thumbs,” is a black barge cat. He lives on a sailboat sporting bright red sails that travels up and down the Thames River. Mangal (Seed School, 2018, etc.) populates the illustrations’ backgrounds with British icons, such as the London Bridge, giving a condensed sense of place. Though notes at the end reveal that Thames barges like Fernando’s are no longer used for cargo, the cat’s boat carries sugar, coal, and hay upriver. A bearded skipper and a younger-looking mate, both white, offer Fernando scraps of traditional foods like pie and mash. Sometimes the feline lies in the sun; other times, he climbs up to the topsail. Peppered with terms that will give young readers a taste of a nautical vocabulary (hold, leeboards, forestay, bob), Samuels’ rhyming text is short and accessible, with the delightful cartoon images providing the necessary clues for unfamiliar words. Green-eyed Fernando is a charmer, and kids are likely to wonder when they can go sailing on a ship like the cat’s. A diagram of the boat serves as a coloring page at the book’s end.
While there’s no plot to speak of, this engaging tale paints a kid-friendly portrait of the joys of life on the Thames.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3110-1
Page Count: 28
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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