A heartfelt plea to change our wasteful ways.
A brown-skinned child has a whale of a time with a new friend, but not everything goes swimmingly.
The unnamed and ungendered child narrates the story, relating how they first spy the blue whale from the top of a lighthouse tower. Accepting the whale’s invitation—“I've so much to show you, if you'll come along”—the child mounts the smiling whale’s back, and the two set off “on the rocking-horse sea.” They happily frolic with various sea animals then descend to a shipwreck where a sunken treasure chest awaits; alas, only discarded plastic bottles are to be found inside the chest. Child and whale swim onward, enjoying colorful underwater vistas, until they reach Arctic waters. When the whale opens its mouth to feed and ingests a ton of discarded plastic, there is a touching moment when the creature seems to telepathically appeal to the child. “I understood now what he'd brought me to see,” says the chastened narrator who then enumerates some of the kinds of plastic trash that contribute to “the soup of the ocean.” A page turn reveals four wordless panels showing marine creatures entangled in debris. On the journey home, the narrator makes a bold promise to the whale. The lyrical text captures the joy of exploration and adds a meditative tone to the fanciful story. Poetic refrain is used effectively to underscore the emotional connection between the child and the concerned cetacean. Padmacandra’s textured crayon-and-ink illustrations add luminous depth to the moving tale and use gentle tones that temper the heavy message.
A heartfelt plea to change our wasteful ways. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-9394-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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