A well-structured and deceptively simple dose of encouragement for emerging readers
Aardvark sings a surprise song for their buddy, Mouse.
Hands on their hips in what may well be an attempt to assume the power stance, Aardvark begins with a statement: “I think I can.” On the next page, quizzical Mouse—arms crossed and one eyebrow raised—repeats the phrase as a question: “You think you can?” The two volley similar sentences back and forth in this repetitive pattern. After a few rounds, Aardvark reveals that what they think they can do is sing. Then Aardvark builds anticipation for their song by declaring it a surprise. From that point, the formula more or less flips, and Aardvark fields Mouse’s questions (“Do I have to hide my eyes?”), posed on recto, in the negative after the page turn (“No. You must look at me”). The dialogue is color-coded (blue for Aardvark, black for Mouse) so that the speakers are clearly differentiated. The difference in height between the two animals and, thus, above-head text placement creates additional visual matching. The small word count (just over 50 words and their variants) and short sentences build in further supports for emerging readers. Set against a white background, Brunson’s cartoony characters appear in the same position from page to page and vary only in expression. An opening note suggests that the book be read by a pair of readers who each take on a character’s lines and share the reading experience.
A well-structured and deceptively simple dose of encouragement for emerging readers . (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7643-5691-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Schiffer
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work.
A young spinach hater becomes a spinach lover after she has to grow her own in a class garden.
Unable to trade away the seed packet she gets from her teacher for tomatoes, cukes or anything else more palatable, Sylvia reluctantly plants and nurtures a pot of the despised veggie then transplants it outside in early spring. By the end of school, only the plot’s lettuce, radishes and spinach are actually ready to eat (talk about a badly designed class project!)—and Sylvia, once she nerves herself to take a nibble, discovers that the stuff is “not bad.” She brings home an armful and enjoys it from then on in every dish: “And that was the summer Sylvia Spivens said yes to spinach.” Raff uses unlined brushwork to give her simple cartoon illustrations a pleasantly freehand, airy look, and though Pryor skips over the (literally, for spinach) gritty details in both the story and an afterword, she does cover gardening basics in a simple and encouraging way.
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9836615-1-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Readers to Eaters
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
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