In this charming tale of Pezzettino who is so much smaller than the others that he thinks he must be a little piece of someone else, Lionni combines a common theme with a very personal treatment and, in his pictures, mixes the marbelized rocks that have become his trademark with visually abstract characters reminiscent of Little Blue and Little Yellow. One-who-runs, strong-one, one-on-the-mountain, and flying-one are all made up of colored cut paper squares vaguely suggestive of bird and animal forms, and after each of them tells Pezzettino, who consists Of just one orange square, that he can't be their little piece for none of them has a piece missing, wise-one sends him across a brilliant sea to the rocky Island of Wham, where Pezzettino falls, breaks into little pieces, and, then—back together—exults that "I am myself!" A loving, lightly tendered affirmation—and, incidentally, an ideal storyboard for young film animators.
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1975
ISBN: 039483156X
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1975
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Positively refreshing.
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A black girl helps her dad learn how to give her the perfect hairstyle for a very special day.
Zuri’s voluminous head of hair “has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way.” She is pictured asleep with a large Afro framing her face. She is proud of her hair, which she sometimes wears in braids with beads like a princess and other times in pigtail puffs. But today is a special day. She knows Daddy is “worn-out” and probably needs a break, so she lets him sleep in while she looks up hairstyles on a tablet. When Daddy wakes and offers to help, he tries a series of hairstyles that just don’t work. Finally, Zuri grabs some hair supplies and shows him a tutorial. “Watching carefully… / Daddy combed, / parted, oiled, and twisted. / He nailed it!” Zuri is lovely and happy with her freshly done hairstyle, and when Mommy arrives to their “Welcome Home” sign, she loves Zuri’s look too. The digital illustrations feature details that feel just right: Zuri’s thick, textured hair, Daddy’s locs and tattoo, and dark-skinned Mom’s bright headwrap. While it’s unclear where Mommy is returning from (she is dressed casually and has a rolling black suitcase), this authentic depiction of a loving and whole black family broadens the scope of representation.
Positively refreshing. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55336-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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