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FINDING WINNIE

Name: FINDING WINNIE
Author: Lindsay Mattick
ISBN: 978-0-316-32490-8

THE TRUE STORY OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BEAR

by Lindsay Mattick ; illustrated by Sophie Blackall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2015

Beautiful but bifurcated, with the two stories in one making it a challenge to determine the audience.

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A mother tells a true bedtime story about the bear that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh’s name.

Mom tells little Cole about Harry, a veterinarian in Winnipeg “about a hundred years before you were born.” En route to his World War I muster, Harry buys a bear cub from a trapper and names her Winnipeg “so we’ll never be far from home.” Winnie travels overseas with the Canadian soldiers to training in England, but when they ship out to France for actual combat, Harry leaves her at the London Zoo. “That’s the end of Harry and Winnie’s story,” but another section begins, about a boy named Christopher Robin Milne who plays with Winnie at the London Zoo. Christopher Robin names his stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh after her, and his father—A.A. Milne, of course—takes the name and runs with it. Mattick’s prose has a storyteller’s rhythm and features the occasional flourish (repeating “his heart made up his mind”); Blackall’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a peaceful stillness that’s welcome in a book that, though not about combat, concerns the trappings of war. A photo album includes snapshots of Winnie with her soldiers and with Christopher Robin. The piece has something of a split personality, and the Winnie-the-Pooh angle comes so late it seems almost an afterthought.

Beautiful but bifurcated, with the two stories in one making it a challenge to determine the audience. (photo album) (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-316-32490-8

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

- BOOK REVIEW
WINNIE'S GREAT WAR
by Lindsay Mattick & Josh Greenhut ; illustrated by Sophie Blackall

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HERE IS BIG BUNNY

by Steve Henry ; illustrated by Steve Henry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 2016

Big fun for new readers who are ready to turn their Where’s Waldo skills to finding text.

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Big Bunny!

Controlled, repetitive text invites children to read short sentences directing them to find “a foot…a hand…a tail,” and so on. These named body parts belong to a figure that isn’t wholly visible until the book’s end, provoking readers to search them out in the detailed images. Their stark whiteness makes them stand out on the pages, which depict a busy, vibrant setting reminiscent of those in Richard Scarry books and are likewise populated by anthropomorphic animals going about their days. Shifting perspective and scale make it clear that the creature is not just another one of these animals, and many readers will use the title and cover image to infer that they belong to the eponymous Big Bunny. The reveal at the conclusion is that Big Bunny is not a giant but a large helium balloon of the sort seen in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. While this clever conceit is carried out with accessible text, there is a little quibble: the saturation and intentional busyness of the illustrations leaves little rest for new readers’ eyes. The sentences and vocabulary are simple, but finding them on the page is the challenge here.

Big fun for new readers who are ready to turn their Where’s Waldo skills to finding text. (Early reader. 5-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8234-3458-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
FRIENDS ARE FUN
by Steve Henry ; illustrated by Steve Henry

- BOOK REVIEW
SNOW IS FUN
by Steve Henry ; illustrated by Steve Henry

- BOOK REVIEW
HIDE!
by Steve Henry ; illustrated by Steve Henry

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MANJHI MOVES A MOUNTAIN

by Nancy Churnin ; illustrated by Danny Popovici ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017

Heartening.

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One determined man brings two villages together with a hammer, chisel, and an iron will.

Deep in the heart of India, a mighty mountain separates two villages. Manjhi lives on one side, where nothing grows. On the other, rice and wheat flourish. The people there are affluent, while Manjhi’s village struggles with hunger. Manjhi climbs to the top of the mountain to ponder this problem. When he throws a stone, it triggers a sprinkle of powder, which gives him an idea. Manjhi trades his trio of goats for a hammer and chisel. Hurrying back to the top of the mountain, he positions the chisel and strikes it with the hammer. Powdered rock and tiny chips spray. He continues until he’s exhausted, but he’s also filled with hope. Even though people tell him he’s “crazy,” day after day Manjhi returns to the mountain. After a year, Majhi is a little stronger, and the hole he has made a little deeper. He perseveres and, when he returns to his task each day, notices that others have continued his work. It takes 22 years, but Manjhi lives to see the day that two villages become one, sharing water, hopes, and dreams. Churnin’s prose has an elegance appropriate for her inspiring tale, which is based on a true story. Popovich’s double-page illustrations use a warm palette and are nicely composed.

Heartening. (Picture book. 5-8)