by Lindsay Barrett George & illustrated by Lindsay Barrett George ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2001
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
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by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021
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
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2024
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static.
In his latest outing, Bear and his pals go in search of eggs.
Bear “lumbers with his friends through the Strawberry Vale.” Raven finds a nest; climbing up, “The bear finds eggs!”: a refrain that appears throughout. Instead of eating the robin’s eggs, however, Bear leaves a gift of dried berries in the nest for the “soon-to-be-chicks.” Next, the friends find 10 mallard eggs (as bright blue as the robin’s), and Bear leaves sunflower seeds. Then the wail of Mama Meadowlark, whose bright yellow undercarriage strikes a warm golden note, leads them to promise to find her lost eggs. With his friends’ assistance, Bear finds one, and they decide to paint them “so they aren’t lost again.” Another is discovered, painted, and placed in Hare’s basket. After hours of persistent searching, Bear suddenly spots the remaining two eggs “in a small patch of clover.” Before they can return these eggs, the chicks hatch and rejoin their mother. Back at his lair, Bear, with his troupe, is visited by all 17 chicks and the robin, mallard, and meadowlark moms: “And the bear finds friends!” Though this sweet spring tale centers on finding and painting eggs, it makes no overt references to Easter. The soft green and blue acrylics, predictable rhymes, and rolling rhythm make this series installment another low-key natural read-aloud.
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781665936552
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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