Sheer delight.
A fanciful retelling of the story of Noah and the Ark doubles as a pourquoi tale.
This hipster Noah is pierced and goateed; his wife sports a partially shaved head and a hank of blue hair (also a noticeably pregnant belly by the end of the book, mute testimony to the ark’s raison d’être). Steven’s text is as tongue-in-cheek as Torseter’s illustrations, describing Noah’s efforts to round up all the creatures, even “bugs that most people get rid of by stomping on them.” Last to arrive to the ark is an orange mutt with a soft, black nose. Noah endlessly feeds the animals while his wife navigates. When the boat springs a leak 20 days out, a quick-thinking Noah deploys the dog’s nose as a plug, and there the loyal animal stays until landfall. Torseter fills the ark with activity, using fine, black lines and judiciously applied pastel colors to fill his nautical cross-sections with detail. A tuxedoed antelope gazes out of a porthole; a kangaroo gives a massage to a card-playing hippo; a grumpy-looking tiger regards a lollipop; an elk plays DJ while an elephant dances with a horse. Children will be just as relieved as the dog is when Noah remembers the faithful hound and plucks him from the hold for a tummy rub. “From then on, every dog in the world would have a wet nose.”
Sheer delight. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59270-173-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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