Share with little ones needing a gentle lullaby.
An urban setting with a calming palette complements the soothing, loving tone of Hughes’ poem celebrating an African-American mother and her baby.
The rhythmic language slowly unfolds with only a line or two per spread. Qualls’ illustrations in acrylic, pencil and collage extend the rich imagery of the text with fantastical qualities that young ones can appreciate. “A necklace of stars” shows mother swinging her baby through a sparkling, celestial, deep purple sky softened with rounded clouds in blues, pinks and grays. The white “[g]reat diamond moon” leads to the next spread, in which mama and child, in a close-up silhouette, “[kiss] the night” amid a burst of stars and with a wavy line of musical notes. This “sleep-song lullaby” is ephemeral, as any sweet song is, but the just-the-right-length note at the end satisfyingly delivers biographical information about the famous poet, while a photo of Hughes as a baby with his mother and the poem’s full text provide further context. This appealing, quiet offering would serve as an appropriate introduction to poetry for new readers since the font is big and much of the vocabulary repeats.
Share with little ones needing a gentle lullaby. (note, further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 2-6)Pub Date: March 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-36265-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
A sweet and refreshing reminder that community is all around us.
A testament to the power of mangoes.
Brown-skinned Mia and Mama, who is darker-skinned, have moved into a new house. Mia loved their apartment and misses it but understands that Mama has wanted a house for so long; indeed, having a house has become Mia’s dream, too. It’s a pink two-story building with “five rooms. Eleven windows. And a whole lot of promise.” One of the things that makes this home so special is the mango tree in the yard. Mia is delighted to finally eat a ripe mango, special because it’s from their home. After that, the mangoes just keep coming and coming, and soon there are too many. But Mia quickly has the idea of sharing the fruit with the neighborhood. A full spread depicting racially diverse people eagerly mingling in Mia and Mama’s yard allows readers to see how wonderful it can be to find a new community. Mia decides, “There’s no such thing as too many mangos.” The light and optimistic story and the vibrant artwork complement each other smoothly. Collagelike illustrations in warm tones make inspired use of color, the pink of the new home contrasting well against the green of the lawn. The book will have readers considering what it means to forge new connections. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet and refreshing reminder that community is all around us. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9781534496033
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
The soft cadence of the rhyming verses and the joyous pictures of the elephants will make this a bedtime favorite
When a baby elephant is born, “wrinkled and gray,” not just the herd, but the whole world rejoices, from morning to night.
From the proud Mama to the grand Aunts, from the “fertile and firm” Earth to the ancient Banyan tree, everyone and everything around the new baby elephant joins in celebration and care for the Baby “who warms the hearts of the world today.” Glowing with warm golds and greens and shadowed with deep blues and greens, the gorgeous artwork lushly illuminates the day of an elephant’s birth as it is cared for by its family and surroundings. The expressions on the elephant faces are sheer joy to behold; the elephant smiles are realistic and yet radiate affection. Seemingly simple, this gentle rhyming story works on two levels: the playfulness of the young elephant and its friends ensure that young children will be able to see themselves in the story, and given the depiction of the natural scenes, at least some young readers will become fascinated with the lives of elephants as well. An author’s note at the end provides background from the Indian-American author’s own life and also draws attention to the present-day need to protect elephants from poaching and the loss of habitat.
The soft cadence of the rhyming verses and the joyous pictures of the elephants will make this a bedtime favorite . (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16684-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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