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GRANDPA'S THIRD DRAWER

Name: GRANDPA'S THIRD DRAWER
Author: Judy Tal Kopelman
ISBN: 978-0-8276-1204-1

UNLOCKING HOLOCAUST MEMORIES

by Judy Tal Kopelman ; illustrated by Judy Tal Kopelman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2014

The story is obviously purposive, but as discussion starters go, it’s certainly a good choice.

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A carefully nonexplicit lead-in to a discussion of the Holocaust with young children, with photo-collage illustrations made of artifacts from Terezín.

A child—at least a supposed one—narrates (sample line: “There’s a kind of quiet in Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It’s the silence of people who come from a faraway world—a vanished world that still lives in memories”). He recalls playing with the crayons and antique toys in his loving grandfather’s desk. One day he discovers the key to a desk drawer that is always locked. Grandpa has a strong reaction when he sees the boy holding a yellow Star of David patch. Recovering, he sits down to describe how the Nazis first sent Jews to ghettos and later split up families and sent them away, never to be reunited. Gatherings of antique photos, childhood drawings and toys in the first part give way to close-up views of a battered rag doll, a striped uniform, homemade dominoes and other memorabilia arranged as if in a just-opened drawer. “I asked…so many questions,” the narrator concludes. “I never knew that Grandpa was such a brave kid.”

The story is obviously purposive, but as discussion starters go, it’s certainly a good choice. (Picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-8276-1204-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Jewish Publication Society

Review Posted Online: April 19, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG AND MORE LOST STORIES

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HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG AND MORE LOST STORIES

by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Dr. Seuss ; introduction by Charles D. Cohen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 2014

Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent.

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Published in magazines, never seen since / Now resurrected for pleasure intense / Versified episodes numbering four / Featuring Marco, and Horton and more!

All of the entries in this follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) involve a certain amount of sharp dealing. Horton carries a Kwuggerbug through crocodile-infested waters and up a steep mountain because “a deal is a deal”—and then is cheated out of his promised share of delicious Beezlenuts. Officer Pat heads off escalating, imagined disasters on Mulberry Street by clubbing a pesky gnat. Marco (originally met on that same Mulberry Street) concocts a baroque excuse for being late to school. In the closer, a smooth-talking Grinch (not the green sort) sells a gullible Hoobub a piece of string. In a lively introduction, uber-fan Charles D. Cohen (The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, 2002) provides publishing histories, places characters and settings in Seussian context, and offers insights into, for instance, the origin of “Grinch.” Along with predictably engaging wordplay—“He climbed. He grew dizzy. His ankles grew numb. / But he climbed and he climbed and he clum and he clum”—each tale features bright, crisply reproduced renditions of its original illustrations. Except for “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” which has been jammed into a single spread, the verses and pictures are laid out in spacious, visually appealing ways.

Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent. (Picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-385-38298-4

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
DR. SEUSS'S EVERY VOICE COUNTS!
illustrated by Dr. Seuss

- BOOK REVIEW
DR. SEUSS'S HORSE MUSEUM
by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Andrew Joyner

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT PET SHOULD I GET?
by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Dr. Seuss

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THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF CITIES

by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Didier Balicevic ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017

There’s lots to see and do in this big city.

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A set of panoramic views of the urban environment: inside and out, above and belowground, at street level and high overhead.

Thanks to many flaps, pull tabs, spinners, and sliders, viewers can take peeks into stores and apartments, see foliage change through the seasons in a park, operate elevators, make buildings rise and come down, visit museums and municipal offices, take in a film, join a children’s parade, marvel as Christmas decorations go up—even look in on a wedding and a funeral. Balicevic populates each elevated cartoon view with dozens of tiny but individualized residents diverse in age, skin tone, hair color and style, dress, and occupation. He also adds such contemporary touches as an electrical charging station for cars, surveillance cameras, smartphones, and fiber optic cables. Moreover, many flaps conceal diagrammatic views of infrastructure elements like water treatment facilities and sources of electrical power or how products ranging from plate glass and paper to bread, cheese, and T-shirts are manufactured (realistically, none of the workers in the last are white). Baumann’s commentary is largely dispensable, but she does worthily observe on the big final pop-up spread that cities are always changing—often, nowadays, becoming more environmentally friendly.

There’s lots to see and do in this big city. (Informational novelty. 6-9)