A spare text accompanies and somewhat overburdens an intriguing visual tale about art and imagination presented in vivid, warm, full-color, and full-page gouache paintings. The endpapers and opening pages show a collection of simple, childlike pictures of rabbits. The story then moves on to show the rabbit artist, a boy of about ten (his signature on his drawings indicates that his name is Luis), cuddling his bunny, now transformed into a winsome live creature, in a landscape of childlike drawings of flowers, grass, trees, and house. “If you were real, we could do lots of things together,” the brief text begins. Then the boy and the “real” bunny are shown together over the next few pages and their actions described in several lines of text: playing in the yard, reading a book, gazing at the night sky, and cuddling quietly. “But if you were really real, what I would do . . . is let you go,” concludes the narrator, somewhat startlingly, since the bunny has been up to now treated as a pet. By letting us into Luis’s daydream where his drawing comes to life, George, a nature illustrator (Around the World: Who’s Been Here?, 1999, etc.) has attempted an interesting observation about the ways we can (and cannot) hold onto the things we create, but the result is somewhat muddled. The text seems to intrude, providing a narrative that might best be supplied by the reader. Luis looks a few years older than his rabbit-drawings might suggest. The lovely tactile bunny and handsome child will be enough for some readers; other children just learning to draw what they love may feel vaguely patronized by the mixture of childlike drawing and impressive “real” bunny and boy. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 31, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16074-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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