To Birdy and her dog French Fry, smiles are a necessity and come in many forms. Birdy's monologue celebrating smiles is ingenuously childlike in its tendency to jump from thought to thought—"I can't see my grandpa's smile because his mustache is soooo big it covers his whole mouth! / But somehow I can always tell when he's SMILING. / Grandpa says my smile can light up a room. / I wish it could CLEAN up a room, too." It's also encyclopedic, folding in such disparate concepts as endorphins, cheese, gelatologism (the study of smiles), George Washington and his dental problems and tears of joy. The collaged illustrations are bold and textured and occupy white space in Keller's characteristically exuberant style. The narrative voice and illustrative feel—it even ends with a mirror, a feature normally found in books for babies and toddlers—are at odds with much of the content, which requires the sense of humor and irony of an older child. Whether they will embrace the presentation and Birdy's exhaustive salute remains open to question. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8883-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cuter as a child-narrated video, but the message is worthy enough to justify this less-evanescent medium.
How and why a symbol of exclusion can be transformed into just the opposite.
The circle is depicted literally in the illustrations but regarded as metaphorical in the unpolished if earnest rhyme. It begins as a mark “on the ground [drawn] along each shoe” (and then, according to the picture, around toes and heels) as “a safe little place for just one person.” But that makes no more sense that a library with “just one book”—and so it should be expanded to include family, friends, and ultimately the whole world: “In the circles all around us / everywhere that we all go / there’s a difference we can make / and a love we can all show.” Expanding on the Instagram video from which this is spun, the simply drawn art shows one button-eyed, pale-skinned child with a piece of chalk drawing and redrawing an increasingly large circle that first lets in a sibling and their interracial parents, then relatives (including another interracial couple), then larger groups (diverse in age and skin tone, including one child in a wheelchair and one wearing a hijab). In subsequent views figures mix and match in various combinations with interlocking circles of their own while waving personal flags here (“I only like SPORTS!”; “I’m Team CAKE!”) and sharing doughnuts there until a closing invitation to regard “wonder-eyed” our beaming, encircled planet. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.)
Cuter as a child-narrated video, but the message is worthy enough to justify this less-evanescent medium. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-32318-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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