What adventures will Sophie and Goose have next? (Picture book. 3-7)
Sophie and her friend Goose are again parted, this time for Sophie’s first day of school, but just as in their first outing, Goose (2015), they aren’t separated for long.
Although “Mom says geese aren’t allowed in school,” that doesn’t stop Goose from following Sophie, “flappy footsteps” clearly audible. And she even spots the fowl in the schoolyard before her mom leaves. Sophie’s first-day nervousness lessens a great deal when Goose appears in her classroom, though her teacher is not impressed. But when Sophie stows Goose under her desk, her teacher can’t spy the bird anymore, though careful readers will. Recess with Goose is especially good fun, and her old friend helps her make some new ones to ease the school transition. When they troop back inside for art, Goose plays on the swings, patiently waiting for Sophie, and the whole class draws Goose during art. The illustrations, drawn with charcoal and then digitally colored, are filled with brilliant colors that really make the white-and-yellow Goose and yellow-haired, red-frocked Sophie pop off the pages. All the characters are white—literally; they are simply black outlines with different-colored hair, none black—and the delightful Goose is very droll, rarely showing any emotion.
What adventures will Sophie and Goose have next? (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-232437-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Lost and found was never so riotously funny or emotionally draining.
A lost toy goes through an existential crisis.
The setup is on the copyright page. Amid the markers of a universally recognizable waiting room—fish tank, chairs against the wall, receptionist’s window, kids’ coloring table—is a tiny orange T. Rex with a dialogue balloon: “Hello?” A turn of the page brings Dexter T. Rexter into close view, and he explains his dilemma directly to readers. He and his best friend came for a checkup, but Jack’s disappeared. Maybe readers can help? But when Jack is still MIA, Dexter becomes disconsolate, believing his friend might have left him behind on purpose; maybe he likes another toy better? Dexter weighs his good qualities against those he lacks, and he comes up short. But when readers protest (indicated by a change in Dexter’s tone after the turn of the page), Dexter gains the determination he needs to make a plan. Unfortunately, though hilariously, his escape plan fails. But luckily, a just-as-upset black boy comes looking for Dexter, and the two are reunited. Ward’s ink, colored-pencil, and cut-paper illustrations give readers a toy’s view of the world and allow children to stomp in Dexter’s feet for a while, his facial expressions giving them lots of clues to his feelings. Readers will be reminded of both Knuffle Bunny and Scaredy Squirrel, but Dexter is a character all his own.
Lost and found was never so riotously funny or emotionally draining. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5420-4727-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
A celebration of differences and the commonalities that unite us.
Families make different kinds of bread that share a common ingredient: love.
In a bustling apartment building, various families of diverse races and ethnicities are making bread. Told in a voice that evokes the absolutist tone of a child, the story opens with the pronouncement, “The only way to make bread is like this.” What follows, however, is not a single recipe to follow but an exploration of what all bread has in common and what makes each kind of bread unique. For instance, you might use flour that’s “soft and white as fresh snow” or “pale yellow and powdery fine” or “coarse and heavy like a pile of teeny tiny rocks.” Different ingredients—“a handful of this,” “a dash of that”—and cooking techniques involving ovens, frying pans, and fires finish the job. In the end, the important thing is to find someone to share it with, “because bread must always be broken together.” It may look and taste different, but “all bread is delicious.” The warm tones and textures of Gonzales’ colored pencil illustrations evoke the feeling of being in a kitchen baking bread with loved ones. The backmatter includes descriptions of the 11 breads featured in the story and recipes for Colombian arepas and Filipino pandesal.
A celebration of differences and the commonalities that unite us. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780735271760
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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