by Katy Beebe ; illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2018
A good pick for reading aloud at any time of day.
A split narrative follows Harry and his daddy through their days and nights.
Daddy is just heading out to start his workday when Harry comes home at the end of the day with Gran. While Daddy helps travelers settle into the sleeping cars on the London-Penzance train, where he works as a conductor, Harry’s mother and grandmother care for him and his baby brother. Although Daddy is apart from them, he’s very much present in their routines and surroundings. Family photos include Daddy, the boys reference trains in their play, and at dinner, “Harry helps Baby open wide for mushy peas. Chug–chug–chug. Here comes the train.” Parts of the text adopt a rhythmic, rhyming cadence that adds a lyrical quality to an oral reading: “Whoo-who sings the train, rocking on its way. / ‘Coo-coo,’ says Baby, wishing he could play.” Movement in and out of this style keeps the text light and nimble in its use of poetic conventions. Watercolor-and-ink illustrations are warm in their palette and in their expressions of affection among the family members, especially when Daddy returns in the morning at the end of his shift, just as Harry and the others begin their day. The whole family appears white with light skin and reddish-brown hair.
A good pick for reading aloud at any time of day. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: April 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5450-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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by Sandra Magsamen ; illustrated by Sandra Magsamen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 4, 2018
So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes.
Another entry in the how-much-I-love-you genre.
The opening spread shows a blue elephant-and-child pair, the child atop the adult, white hearts arcing between their uplifted trunks: “You’re a gift and a blessing in every way. / I love you more each and every day.” From there, the adult elephant goes on to tell the child how they are loved more than all sorts of things, some rhyming better than others: “I love you more than all the spaghetti served in Rome, // and more than each and every dog loves her bone.” More than stars, fireflies, “all the languages spoken in the world,” “all the dancers that have ever twirled,” all the kisses ever given and miles ever driven, “all the adventures you have ahead,” and “all the peanut butter and jelly spread on bread!” Representative of all the world’s languages are “I love you” in several languages (with no pronunciation help): English, Sioux, French, German, Swahili, Spanish, Hawaiian, Chinese, and Arabic (these two last in Roman characters only). Bold colors and simple illustrations with no distracting details keep readers’ focus on the main ideas. Dashed lines give the artwork (and at least one word on every spread) the look of 2-D sewn toys.
So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8398-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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