Gently clever.
This poetic picture book reads forward and backward, revealing two narratives about sharing and welcoming.
“This rock is ours,” declares a trio of seals. But what does “ours” really mean? Washy, blue and gray illustrations of a watery landscape span full spreads as a group of gently anthropomorphized seals confronts an outsider seal and its pup. Pops of color include green sprigs, pink sea stars, and yellow beaks and feet on observing sea gulls. The seals’ facial expressions feel a little mismatched with the text in the first read—perhaps as a result of the challenge of creating two narratives with one set of illustrations and words. The initial front-to-back reading witnesses the group of seals shooing the seal-and-pup pair away even though the duo has nowhere to go. The final page reads: “No room on this rock? Can it be true? / Read back to front for another point of view.” Reading the book backward, readers find a story of welcoming using the same text in reverse. For one-on-one sharing or a read-aloud with an engaged group of children, the chance to re-explore the book from back to front to derive different meaning is an opportunity for playful reflection. Large, simple black text throughout employs italics for direct emphasis. The narrative around sharing and welcoming can be scaled for diverse age groups.
Gently clever. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61067-902-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
In the siblings' latest adventure, their grandmother is having a birthday (again! see Bunny Cakes, p. 67), so Ruby takes Max shopping. A music box with skating ballerinas is Ruby's idea of the perfect present; Max favors a set of plastic vampire teeth. Ruby's $15 goes fast, and somehow, most of it is spent on Max. The music box of Ruby's dreams costs $100, so she settles for musical earrings instead. There isn't even a dollar left for the bus, so Max digs out his lucky quarter and phones Grandma, who drives them home—happily wearing her new earrings and vampire teeth. As ever, Wells's sympathies are with the underdog: Max, in one-word sentences, out-maneuvers his officious sister once again. Most six- year-olds will be able to do the mental subtraction necessary to keep track of Ruby's money, and Wells helps by illustrating the wallet and its dwindling contents at the bottom of each page where a transaction occurs. Younger children may need to follow the author's suggestion and have an adult photocopy the ``bunny money'' on the endpapers, so they can count it out. Either way, the book is a great adjunct to primary-grade math lessons. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8037-2146-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1997
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