Visually boisterous, great fun to read aloud, and likely to incite some “wond’ring” along with the laughter.
Raschka injects fresh whimsy into a bit of linguistic tomfoolery from one of the poet’s letters to his younger sister.
The poem has been illustrated before—notably by Ezra Jack Keats (1965)—but Raschka’s free-form brushwork and love of bright color contrasts seem particularly suited to the autobiographical (more or less) verses’ quick tumble of chopped lines and rhymes. Having “followéd his Nose / To the North, / To the North,” a “naughty boy” writes in cool weather and warm (“Och the charm”), makes “Of fish a pretty Kettle / A Kettle!” and observes that in Scotland “the ground / Was as hard, / That a yard / Was as long, / That a song / Was as merry” as in England. The words propel themselves along: “So he stood in his shoes / And he wonder’d, / He wonder’d, / He stood in his shoes // And he wonder’d.” The illustrations are equally playful. The endpapers present views of the Scottish coast and New York separated only by a narrow blue band labeled “Much Water,” for instance. Raschka depicts a light-brown lad with windblown hair and a red cap, first running, then walking ever more contemplatively along broad tracks that turn out to be arrows pointing him onward.
Visually boisterous, great fun to read aloud, and likely to incite some “wond’ring” along with the laughter. (afterword) (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5090-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
The legions of fans who over the years have enjoyed dePaola’s autobiographical picture books will welcome this longer gathering of reminiscences. Writing in an authentically childlike voice, he describes watching the new house his father was building go up despite a succession of disasters, from a brush fire to the hurricane of 1938. Meanwhile, he also introduces family, friends, and neighbors, adds Nana Fall River to his already well-known Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, remembers his first day of school (“ ‘ When do we learn to read?’ I asked. ‘Oh, we don’t learn how to read in kindergarten. We learn to read next year, in first grade.’ ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll be back next year.’ And I walked right out of school.”), recalls holidays, and explains his indignation when the plot of Disney’s “Snow White” doesn’t match the story he knows. Generously illustrated with vignettes and larger scenes, this cheery, well-knit narrative proves that an old dog can learn new tricks, and learn them surpassingly well. (Autobiography. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23246-X
Page Count: 58
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1999
No substitute for blankets or shelter, but perhaps a way of securing some warmth for those in need.
Gaiman’s free-verse meditation on coming in from, or at least temporarily fending off, the cold is accompanied by artwork from 13 illustrators.
An ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the author put out a social media appeal in 2019 asking people about their memories of warmth; the result is this picture book, whose proceeds will go to the UNHCR. For many refugees and other displaced persons, Gaiman writes, “food and friends, / home, a bed, even a blanket, / become just memories.” Here he gathers images that signify warmth, from waking in a bed “burrowed beneath blankets / and comforters” to simply holding a baked potato or being offered a scarf. Using palettes limited to black and the warm orange in which most of the text is printed, an international slate of illustrators give these images visual form, and 12 of the 13 add comments about their intentions or responses. The war in Ukraine is on the minds of Pam Smy and Bagram Ibatoulline, while Majid Adin recalls his time as a refugee in France’s “Calais jungle” camp. “You have the right to be here,” the poet concludes, which may give some comfort to those facing the cold winds of public opinion in too many of the places where refugees fetch up. The characters depicted are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
No substitute for blankets or shelter, but perhaps a way of securing some warmth for those in need. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063358089
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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