A light-hearted treatment of an iffy (whiffy?) subject with a relatable message for parents.
A first-time father finds diaper-changing time has its sticky challenges in Nisbet’s picture book.
Whether adult readers are amused or somewhat repulsed by the subject of this debut children’s book may depend on their experience level with the unpredictable consequences of a very young infant’s active digestive system…particularly at changing time, as the dad in the story discovers. “It happened again,” he says, “I got déjà pu, / where the diaper stopped some but / the rest got through.” (The book’s title means “a feeling of having already experienced the poopy situation.”) The illustration for Dad’s rhyming complaint depicts an adorable, big-eyed, diapered baby with pale skin and auburn hair gazing up happily from the brown-stained changing table surrounded by brown-stained wipes. The frank theme continues throughout the short picture book as the author presents various scenarios of mistimed, explosive diaper changes in a read-aloud cadence sure to give very young audiences the giggles. The full-page digital illustrations by Belova emphasize the humor in the situation (particularly the parents’ expressions), contrasting more earthy details with simple, cozy interior decor against varied backgrounds of bright colors and sophisticated patterning. Nisbet’s overriding intention is clear: a message of unconditional parental love, no matter how many times diaper changes go awry.
A light-hearted treatment of an iffy (whiffy?) subject with a relatable message for parents.Pub Date: April 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781738172313
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Art Lab International
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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