A testament of true friendship.
In this Dutch and Belgian import, a tiny dog yearns to swim, but his owner says he must take lessons first.
Benny, a diminutive blue canine with distinctive whiskers, really wants to jump into the lake on a hot, summer day. But Sam, a determined young gal with disheveled pigtails, declares that he must first pass a swim test. After all, that is what she had to do. (She proudly shows him her swim certificate.) She decides to take him to the pool for lessons. Alas, the swimming instructor says no. Sam isn’t deterred. “I think I know why the teacher sent you away. You’re not wearing a bathing suit. No one can go into the pool with a bare bottom!” She quickly squeezes him into a pair of polka-dot swim trunks (Benny’s uncertain expression says it all). But he’s turned away again. Will Benny ever swim in the lake? In Meijer’s friendly, informal cartoons, bright colors and stable compositions give an atmosphere of optimism to plucky, earnest Sam’s plight. The story is quite linear and obvious to those in the know, but for readers who don’t have dogs, it could be a shocking discovery. The majority of the students in the class, Sam included, appear white, although some have slightly darker skin, and the swimming instructor has brown skin and curly black hair.
A testament of true friendship. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-60537-497-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
A deterministic message detracts from the math.
For 10 flower friends, the grass is always greener…in the sky.
Ten Fantasia-like flowers with adorable faces and leaf arms/hands love being together and basking in the sun, but they also can’t help wanting to break free of their roots and fly when they see the fairies flitting about in the moonlight. One night, “Said the tiny blue one, / ‘Fairy up in the sky, / you see, I’m a flower, / but I want to fly.’ ” While the fairy is puzzled at the flower’s discontent, she grants its wish and transforms it into a butterfly. One by one the others join their mate in the sky as butterflies, each one’s color reflecting its flower origin. At daybreak, though, the new butterflies regret the transformation, and the understanding fairy changes them back again: “But big and tall, / or short and small, / being ourselves / is best of all!” Really? There isn’t even one flower that would really rather fly all the time? Throughout, McKellar emphasizes that there are always 10 in all, though some may be flowers and some butterflies at any given point. The endpapers reinforce ways to make 10 by showing 11 combinations, all in two rows of five, which may confuse children, rather than always keeping butterflies separate from flowers and allowing one row to be longer than the other. The bright colors, butterflies, flowers, and the fairy, who is a dark-skinned pixie with long black hair, seem calibrated to attract girly audiences.
A deterministic message detracts from the math. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-93382-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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