A pure ode to nature and sincere Black boy joy.
A Black father and son explore the seasons in a yearlong celebration of love of self, community, and creation.
The book, set in a small town adjacent to farmland and wild spaces, opens with spring. With playful mobility, Bayoc’s paintings depict the pair taking in their surroundings. Father and son gleefully tumble down a hill past a dogwood tree and through a flower patch while birds sing in the corner. Worried quails in a vivacious field of daffodils watch the father and son fly a kite under heavy drops of rain. Summer radiates warmth as horses kick up their hooves and cats side-eye the commotion. A thunderstorm with rain sheeting down isn’t enough to quell the joy in these two. In fall, the father rakes up the leaves while his son playfully jumps in the pile. Acorns drop as the son and his dad enjoy a healthy salad. Then winter covers the trees, mountaintops, and roofs with puffs of snow, and father and son build a snowman together. In all seasons, onlooking animals are painted with bright smiles that match the protagonists’. Moore’s brisk verse sets the pace. Stanza structure and rhyme scheme vary from season to season, but the peppy bounce never falters. Occasional moments when text and illustrations are a bit out of sync do not materially dull the fun. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pure ode to nature and sincere Black boy joy. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4788-7239-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
An expertly crafted, soulful, and humorous work that tenderly explores identity, culture, and the bond between father and...
Thunder Boy Smith Jr. hates his name.
The Native American boy is named after his father, whose nickname is Big Thunder. Thunder Boy Jr. says his nickname, Little Thunder, makes him "sound like a burp or a fart." Little Thunder loves his dad, but he longs for a name that celebrates something special about him alone. He muses, “I love playing in the dirt, so maybe my name should be Mud in His Ears.…I love powwow dancing. I’m a grass dancer. So maybe my name should be Drums, Drums, and More Drums!” Little Thunder wonders how he can express these feelings to his towering father. However, he need not worry. Big Thunder knows that the time has come for his son to receive a new name, one as vibrant as his blossoming personality. Morales’ animated mixed-media illustrations, reminiscent of her Pura Belpré Award–winning work in Niño Wrestles the World (2013), masterfully use color and perspective to help readers see the world from Little Thunder’s point of view. His admiration of his dad is manifest in depictions of Big Thunder as a gentle giant of a man. The otherwise-muted palette bursts with color as Thunder Boy Jr. proudly enumerates the unique qualities and experiences that could inspire his new name.
An expertly crafted, soulful, and humorous work that tenderly explores identity, culture, and the bond between father and son. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-01372-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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