Both tenderly human and macrocosmic.
Inspired by Debra Frasier’s On the Day You Were Born (1991), a tale that intertwines facts about Earth’s origins with the trajectory of childhood development.
As a Brown caregiver hikes and camps with a child sporting toy wings (whose white hair and pale skin suggest albinism), Newhouse’s text relies on a “before you were born” trope, previously popularized by Frasier, to gallop through billions of years of earth science. “Long before you grew cell by cell… / continents formed, / sulfur steamed, / bacteria multiplied, / life evolved on Earth.” The narrative aligns the child’s developmental markers with our planet’s evolutionary patterns. “Long before you took your first steps… / amphibians crawled and hopped to land.” After establishing the existence of bees, mammals, and dinosaurs, Newhouse introduces the giant asteroid whose impact (“BOOM!”) renders the dinosaurs extinct. Life renews, primates clamber in trees, and brown-skinned early humans start to “build, create, and play.” Cosgrove’s digital illustrations effectively use scraggly crayon textures against backdrops of deep-space black and the blue and mauve of earthly skies. Keyed to the child’s hair, chalk-white drawings depict evolving animal species and human achievements like ships and cities. The evolutionary narrative underpins a loving contemporary family; in one spread, a blissful pregnant couple awaits the birth of the youngster at the story’s center. Below a night sky whose starry constellation resembles the child’s face, the caregiver tucks the little one in. Little readers will come away assured of their place in the world.
Both tenderly human and macrocosmic. (author’s note, timeline, bibliography) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780823458462
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
A delightful story of love and hope.
Families are formed everywhere—including large metropolitan mass-transit systems!
Baby Kevin, initially known as “Danny ACE Doe,” was found in the New York City’s 14th Street subway station, which serves the A-C-E lines, by one of his future fathers, Danny. Kevin’s other father, Pete (author Mercurio), serves as the narrator, explaining how the two men came to add the newborn to their family. Readers are given an abridged version of the story from Danny and Pete’s point of view as they work to formally adopt Kevin and bring him home in time for Christmas. The story excels at highlighting the determination of loving fathers while still including realistic moments of hesitation, doubt, and fear that occur for new and soon-to-be parents. The language is mindful of its audience (for example using “piggy banks” instead of “bank accounts” to discuss finances) while never patronizing young readers. Espinosa’s posterlike artwork—which presents the cleanest New York readers are ever likely to see—extends the text and makes use of unexpected angles to heighten emotional scenes and moments of urgency. The diversity of skin tones, ages, and faces (Danny and Pete both present white, and Kevin has light brown skin) befits the Big Apple. Family snapshots and a closing author’s note emphasize that the most important thing in any family is love. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.3-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 43% of actual size.)
A delightful story of love and hope. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-42754-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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