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OSCAR'S TOWER OF FLOWERS

Warm and wonderful.

A very young boy finds joy in a difficult situation.

When Oscar’s mom brings him to live with his grandmother for a while, he is frightened and lonely. After his painful, emotional goodbye to his mom, Nana hugs him and reassures him. That first tearful night is so very difficult, despite the companionship of his toy monkey, the photo of mom and him next to him on the pillow, and a comforting thumb to suck. The next morning there’s a lovely breakfast, a jigsaw puzzle, and drawing with Nana and the cat. When Oscar carefully helps to water a drooping plant, Nana takes notice and brings him to a special store to purchase seeds, soil, containers, and tools. With lots of patience and Oscar’s careful tending, Nana’s apartment and terrace fill up with greenery, vines, and flowers. So many, in fact, that they gift all the neighbors with the lovely plants, making lots of new friends. The story is told entirely without words in a series of fully detailed, beautifully crafted, colorful vignettes of varying sizes. In them readers see and understand mom’s, Nana’s, and, of course, Oscar’s emotions in their faces and body language. Oscar and his family present White, with beige skin tones; Nana is refreshingly youthful looking. There are lovely surprises in the views of the apartments and their very diverse occupants before and after Oscar’s triumph. A lovely, joyful reunion with mom is comforting for young readers cuddled with their grown-ups.

Warm and wonderful. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: May 11, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-5362-1777-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021

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THERE'S A ROCK CONCERT IN MY BEDROOM

Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.

Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.

Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: March 29, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

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