Familiar emotions writ large.
A young girl explores how she feels when she is with her father.
Roussey’s illustrations stand out, the ink-drawn girl tiny next to her father’s gigantic hands, emphasizing just how outsized his influence on her and her emotions is. When she gives her dad a hug, she feels “like / a little bird in a warm, comfy nest. / When I am with my dad, I feel safe.” The picture may be difficult for literal thinkers to puzzle out: The girl rests in a house-shaped space superimposed on a tree that resembles a green lollipop. Her dad’s giant left hand waters the tree; his right lays a blanket on the girl. Dad also makes her feel “brave,” “daring,” “confident” in her abilities (she rides a two-wheeler across the back of his hand), “adventurous” (at the pool), “playful,” “calm,” “excited,” “angry,” and “peaceful and happy again.” But “No matter what I am feeling / …. / I love my dad, / and my dad loves me.” Dad’s extremities are the only parts of him visible, and both he and his daughter are paper-white, she with bobbed dark hair tied with a red bow. As with other titles in the Growing Hearts series, this one has thick board pages, but oddly, unlike the others, this one lacks the die cuts and flaps that make thick pages a necessity.
Familiar emotions writ large. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2822-8
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills.
What do you do when the world turns upside down?
Freckled redhead Tilda is a happy only child with a rollicking personality. With lots of books and toys and a multiracial group of friends, life is perfect as far as she’s concerned…until her world undergoes a troubling change (a subtle hint in the illustrations suggests that Tilda’s parents have divorced). Suddenly, nothing feels right, everything seems hard, and she doesn’t want to play with her friends. To reflect this emotional disorientation, the artwork shows Tilda in spatially distorted settings, complete with upside-down objects. It’s not until she sees an upturned ladybug struggle persistently before getting back on its feet (despite Tilda’s desire to help, the ladybug needs to help itself) that Tilda gains the courage to start taking baby steps in order to cope with her new reality. There are still challenges, and she needs to persevere, but eventually, she regains her zest for life and reconnects with her friends. Despite this, the ending avoids an easy happily-ever-after, which feels just right for the subject matter. Though a trifle didactic, the story sends an important message about the roles of self-efficacy and persistence when it comes to overcoming challenges and building resilience. Percival’s digital illustrations use transitions from grayscale to color to create symbolic meaning and have psychological depth, deftly capturing a child’s experience of trauma.
An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0822-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
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)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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