A useful tool for introducing a difficult topic to young readers.
A wolf in bird’s clothing tricks an innocent canary in this rhyming picture book about trafficking.
Nicolette is a young canary in Kiev, Ukraine. Instead of spending time with her family, she strives to be cool, making TikTok videos and going on adventures, bemoaning the fact that she has to do chores. When she complains to her friends and reveals her dreams of traveling, a wolf listens. When the wolf, dressed in a mask to look like a fellow bird, offers Nicolette a trip to America in exchange for work, she jumps at the chance. But the wolf is up to no good: “The Big Bad Wolf waited patiently and pretended until they got to their destination. / Nicolette had no idea of his true expectation.” Forced into servitude, Nicolette finally escapes by fleeing to the police, who send her home to her family. Mehlman-Orozco, a criminologist, opens with a lengthy note to parents, advising them to read the tale with their children. The author suggests that adults should use familiar story examples of villains who pretend to be good to explain how victims are tricked. The uneven rhymes that follow are laid out in text blocks, making the scansion hard to follow. Rodic’s illustrations featuring subdued tones and an animal cast give readers some distance from the story’s scary parts. But the inclusion of modern tools like a ring light keeps the effective cautionary tale grounded in reality.
A useful tool for introducing a difficult topic to young readers.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-96529-1
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Break The Chain Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2021
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 pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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