A bilingual treat
Argueta follows Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding (illustrated by Fernando Vilela, 2010) with another simple, lyrical bilingual recipe for children.
Three siblings cavort their way through the oldest one’s description of making guacamole: “Yummy guacamole, / so greeny green, / as pure as love.” Relying on four ingredients (avocados, limes, cilantro and salt), the author breaks the recipe into bite-sized steps for the smallest hands and enlivens the text with extra activities, such as singing and dancing. “Sing to the salt / as you shake it / so that little splatters / of white drizzle / fall like rain on the green avocado.” Asterisks indicate the two steps where children may need adult help. The Spanish text appears over the English text, and both face Sada’s fanciful illustrations, bright with the author’s descriptive, often metaphoric palette. The illustrations bring the recipe to life, and children will delight in the antics of these happy children. Living in a hollowed-out avocado, the characters are small enough in some of the illustrations to slide on freshly cut fruits, play under the kitchen faucet and frolic in salt the size of popcorn. The end of the book finds the entire family enjoying the freshly made guacamole on the lawn outside their unusual abode. While the Spanish text loses a bit of its lyricism and repetition in translation, the overall effect will still be pleasing to young readers.
A bilingual treat . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55498-133-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A must-read illustrated poem that breathes new life into Hughes’ “Dream Variation.” (Picture book. 5-8)
A quietly powerful picture book that Hughes himself would have adored.
Like Charles R. Smith’s My People and E.B. Lewis’ The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Miyares’ rendition of Hughes’ famous poem connects intimately with children’s lives. In the illustrations alone, Miyares creates the story of a little suspenders-wearing African-American boy who travels to town in the back of the bus with his mother and sister, at the same time developing a mutual interest in a little white boy who rides in the front of the same bus with his mother and sister. The boys sneak glances at each other while on the bus, walking in town, and drinking from water fountains labeled “WHITES ONLY” and “COLORED ONLY.” That evening, Dad joins the black family for a picnic. A brown sparrow lands on the boy’s finger, prompting a turn in the realistic narrative. The line “That is my dream!” initiates the fantasy. As the sun sets, the two sets of siblings ride on colorful birds (sparrow, goldfinch, bluebird, and cardinal): “Dance! Whirl! Whirl!” together in the sky. Miyares’ historically situated watercolor illustrations perfectly capture the tensions of racial segregation, contrasting them against the joy and peace that come from the freedom for all children to make friends who don’t look like them.
A must-read illustrated poem that breathes new life into Hughes’ “Dream Variation.” (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-55017-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
PERSPECTIVES
Whimsy takes flight in this humorous collection
Prelutsky and Berger are back with 16 new specimens of poem and collage, meticulously rendered to excite and amuse.
After traveling the globe for creatures of animal and inanimate origin, the master of verse returns to share his discoveries. Procrastinating pandas, self-adhering geese and cacophonous magpies are a few of the carefully selected creatures on display for readers’ enjoyment. Budding naturalists will relish the details both author and illustrator offer. From the dour to the delightful, Prelutsky describes each creature in detail, packing each line with punchy playfulness: “JOLLYFISH are radiant, / Ebullient blobs of mirth, / With merry dispositions / From the moment of their birth. / ... / Their humor is infectious, / And as aimlessly they drift, / Their buoyant effervescence / Gives the neighborhood a lift.” Berger’s cleverly designed assemblages—created from ephemera and digitally manipulated vintage etchings—offer the wonder and fascination of a curio shop. Her dioramas in particular, with their steampunk aesthetic, lend an aura of authenticity to these eclectic creatures.
Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-201464-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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