A girl ponders the perfect question to ask her dog in this rhyming picture book.
First engaging the audience with the title question, the young narrator of this story explains: “I often wonder what I would ask / if my dog could answer me.” On each spread, illustrations show the pair’s adventures, accompanied by the girl’s musings on her dog’s opinion of events. What is the reason her canine collects sticks when they play outside? Does the animal’s fur coat get too warm? Would the dog rather go for a short walk or a long drive? While many of the questions seem like universal canine owner ponderings, others are more existential—such as whether the pooch has a sense of time. Finally, the girl decides on a question about the love she and her dog share. Though the pet can’t speak, readers will be left with the impression that she’s gotten her answer to that very important question. Messina skillfully captures both the voice of a dog owner and the perspective of a child in her phrasing, accessible vocabulary, and the types of questions the girl asks. Pavliuk’s mixed-media illustrations offer clear linework in cartoonish images with rich watercolor hues. The unnamed canine is expressive, both in calm moments and frantic ones, and the love between the light-skinned girl and her pet is evident on each spread.
Dog lovers will enjoy this imaginative exploration of a canine’s perspective.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: My Human “N” Me, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
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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
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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