It’s a sweet, fantastic depiction of community building, but it’s just too bad that it doesn’t acknowledge its debt to old,...
A fantastically giant turtle is lonely until others make themselves at home on his shell.
Seeming a bit like a riff on creation stories (though failing to acknowledge any Native American or other sources), Sherry’s story relies on readers’ willingness to suspend disbelief. Echoing the bravado of the protagonist of his debut, I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean (2008), it opens, “I’m a giant turtle, and I’m as BIG as an island.” Cheery, accompanying art, rendered in pencil and then inked and painted with watercolors and salts, depicts the giant turtle looming over a deserted island. The poor turtle is lonely until shipwrecked creatures take refuge on his shell. They end up feasting together and building homes; all is well on Turtle Island. But then the settlers become lonely for their friends and family, and they decide to depart to find them. Bereft and once again alone, the giant turtle cannot stop thinking about his new friends. Happily, they soon return with their loved ones and re-establish the Turtle Island settlement—which grows as another giant turtle arrives with a castle atop her shell and three other littler giant turtles nearby.
It’s a sweet, fantastic depiction of community building, but it’s just too bad that it doesn’t acknowledge its debt to old, old stories about the Turtle Island that is North America. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3391-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Short stanzas (with only a few rhythmic missteps) convey the languorous feeling of a bear’s slumber.
The simplest of narratives, conveyed in lulling rhymes, follows a mother black bear and her two cubs throughout the year.
A tiny bluebird trills a note. “Spring is here / Bees hum / Bears wake up / Here they come.” The newborn omnivores first search for food, overturning logs and splashing in the water. The cubs frolic and play. Then, suddenly, in a swift page turn, it is winter again: “Spring summer fall / All day long / Bears grow big / Bears grow strong / But in the fall / When leaves turn red / Bears know soon / It’s time for bed.” The bears burrow in for their long slumber. Winter lethargy (which is different than hibernation, as the appended note explains) certainly deserves the most focus in a work with such a soporific title. However, readers might wish that the interim seasons were explored a bit more fully. Johnson and Fancher’s oil-painted bears are stunningly realistic, yet they also have a cozy fuzziness, wrapped in dark brown warmth. After the cubs sleep through the blanketing snow, the bluebird returns, completing the cycle with an echoing refrain that holds so much promise: “Here they come!”
Short stanzas (with only a few rhythmic missteps) convey the languorous feeling of a bear’s slumber. (Informational picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-670-01718-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The clever supposition will keep kids imagining the amusing possibilities of one common story.
A cat and a dog’s lazy day on the couch is interrupted by the appearance of a bold mouse.
What actually happens is related through a series of questions to which the cat responds, correcting certain assumptions that did not occur. The possible scenarios are depicted in the fully expressive acrylic paintings integral to the imaginative (though sometimes incorrect) narrative, as one version is outlined within the questions and then the correct perspective is presented. “So there was a scary dog, right?” Here readers see an orange cat with eyes wide open partially hiding behind the couch where a large white dog is sitting wearing a spiked collar and with an angry, alert expression on its face. “No!” is the response, and the dog is revealed to be mild-mannered and plain-collared. “But there was a cat, right?” Both dog and cat look utterly astonished. “Yes” is the response. “And the dog was wide awake, right?” The dog, sitting upright, is pondering the situation while the cat snoozes. “No!” is the response. “But the cat saw a mouse, right?” This exchange continues until the story’s tangible outcome is eventually told. Fox’s intriguing call-and-response storytelling approach allows readers to surmise what might have happened against what really took place. The mouse is chased into a hole, and Fox gives kids another opportunity to continue the story. “And then the mouse came out to say hi, right?” The mouse stands before a bewildered dog and cat holding a violin and bow. “Hmmm, what do you think?” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The clever supposition will keep kids imagining the amusing possibilities of one common story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4169-8688-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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