Patricelli, author of several board books, graduates prematurely from cardboard to paper pages for this cheery birthday monologue narrated by a toddler who gets more play mileage out of a big box than the puppy it holds. Using bright, appealingly smudged colors and very simple, boldly outlined shapes, she depicts a diaper-clad child unwrapping the carton, hugging it in delight, then, accompanied by the puppy soon discovered inside, transforming it into an airplane, a ship and a robot before finally nestling down inside for a nap. The narrative voice is older than the child in the pictures, and next to Antoinette Portis’s Not a Box (2006), and several other takes on the familiar premise, this lacks the emotional range allowed by a longer format. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-7636-2825-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
A mouse searches for and finally finds her missing Seder plate.
Pippa is an industrious house-cleaning mouse. And no wonder—Passover is starting this very evening. Dusting and sweeping finished, she turns her attention to setting the table as a pot of chicken stew bubbles away on the stovetop. But there is one very important object that is missing: the “special Seder plate.” Frantically, the mouse searches through boxes and cupboards and finally ventures into the yard. First she encounters a very large cat and asks if it has seen the plate. “No,” answers the cat and points her to a snake, who sends her to an owl, who directs her to Golda Fish, prettily swimming in the water. Success! Kirkfield’s little tale is written in rhyming couplets with much repetition of “QUIVER! QUAVER! SHIVER! SHAKE!” for emphasis with each interaction with a predator, so readers will be mightily puzzled when the formerly frightful critters join Pippa at the holiday table. Weber’s gouache, crayon, and collage illustrations are sweetly pretty. The final illustration features a Seder plate with transliterated Hebrew and an English translation of the components. Readers familiar with the holiday may find this mildly enjoyable, but others will likely want and need more information.
In the end too much is left unanswered, making this book pleasant but only passable . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4162-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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