A tongue-in-cheek look at snakes that will make kids giggle.
A humorous picture book explores what snakes can and can’t do.
Snakes can’t wear shoes or gloves, of course, because they have no feet or hands—but can they wear a scarf? “Well,” writes Tills, “maybe a long, long one.” A mix of kid-savvy, funny-bone entertainment, and clearly expressed, simple facts about snake physiology and behavior, this story for children, from toddlers to early readers, will make adults smile, too. (Birds have two legs, the author observes, adding, “flamingos think they have one.”) In tandem with the humor, Tills informs her audience that even though snakes don’t have feet, they do have “tiny belly muscles” that allow them to coil and twist their bodies and slither “on the ground, up a tree, or in the water.” The author frames some of the story’s black-and-white images by GetYourBookIllustrations of a goofy, polka-dot snake and other cartoon-style animals on full-page backgrounds of saturated colors, many patterned with a reptilian scale motif. Other pictures are positioned on white pages and accented with colorful shapes. The book concludes with a gentle segue from Tills presenting comic and factual reasons that show snakes are “wonderful” to asking children to name something that makes them “wonderful,” too. The snake and his friends appear to be interested in the response. This work is part of the author’s Awesome Animals series, which includes Pigs Never Sweat! (2021).
A tongue-in-cheek look at snakes that will make kids giggle.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73670-040-2
Page Count: 27
Publisher: FDI Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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