A very good goodnight book.
Cumulative text builds up to a sweet goodnight in this bedtime book.
Although the first-person text doesn’t specify race, ethnicity, or gender, the illustrations depict a light-skinned family composed of Mom, Dad, and their narrator child, all three with dark hair and eyes (though Dad’s complexion is a bit darker than the others’). A little dog named Jasper appears as well as the story begins with the family around the table anticipating day’s end. The family’s routine—washing dinner dishes, bathtime, pajamas, tooth-brushing, bedtime reading, and, finally, hugs good night—builds in the text to create a sense of stability and comfort, each iteration adding one element to the preceding list and closing with the titular refrain until the very end. Clearly this child is well-loved and cared for, knowing what to expect as one part of the routine gives way to another. Castillo’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations augment the text’s comfortable feeling, her trademark thick, smudgy outlines visually hugging each character. The pictures look downright magical at book’s end when luminous wallpaper—a rich blue with golden stars and crescent moons—fills up the background of cozy closing images, creating interior starry splendor.
A very good goodnight book. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-31930-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this.
A lushly illustrated picture book with a troubling message.
Little Lala walks with her father after his successful day of fishing. When Mama calls her home for bed, a host of “good night”s delays her: to the bird, the monkey, and even the rock. As Lala wanders through her village in the darkening twilight, readers appreciate its expansive beauty and Lala’s simple joys. Although it’s been artfully written and richly illustrated by an award-winning author of many multicultural stories, this book has problems that overshadow its beauty. “African veld” sets the story in southern Africa, but its vague locale encourages Americans to think that distinctions among African countries don’t matter. Lala wears braids or locks that stick straight up, recalling the 19th-century pickaninny, and her inconsistent skin color ranges from deep ebony like her father’s to light brown. Shadows may cause some of these differences, but if it weren’t for her identifiable hair, readers might wonder if the same child wanders from page to page. Perhaps most striking of all is Lala’s bedtime story: not an African tale but an American classic. While this might evoke nostalgia in some readers, it also suggests that southern Africa has no comparably great bedtime books for Lala, perhaps in part because American children’s literature dominates the world market.
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17384-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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