An easy, breezy fashion-conscious way to learn colors, but it seems a little limited in its appeal, a throwback to an...
Mother-and-daughter outfits—a retro fashion idea that continues to be popular in some households.
Poppy informs readers: “One of my favorite things is when the colors of our clothes match.” With digital illustrations that look as if they originated as collages, this color concept book introduces all the usual suspects, as well as several shades of blue and green, and even “multicolored” socks, that are “like swirly rainbows.” The layout of the double-page spreads with lots of white space is consistent, with slight variations. The emphasis on the mom figure is usually on her clothes, from the torso down; viewers see her face on only one page, where she wears “a jacket the color of the blue sea,” her face hidden behind “sunglasses big as dinner plates.” The type is easy to read, and a crayon scribble of the appropriate color always backgrounds the name of the color, printed in large, bold type. The clean look of the illustrations works well, especially in spreads such as the one devoted to “tangerine orange,” where Mommy’s shorts and Poppy’s “bicycle helmet matched!” The book breaks no new gender ground. In girly style, Poppy also imitates her mommy when she puts on “flamingo-feather blusher” and when she wears her mom’s extra beads. Both Mommy and Poppy present white.
An easy, breezy fashion-conscious way to learn colors, but it seems a little limited in its appeal, a throwback to an earlier time. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-9107-1658-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boxer Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.
It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.
In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5378-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
It may be his mothers’ wedding day, but it’s Donovan’s big day in Newman’s (Heather Has Two Mommies, 1989, etc.) latest picture book about queer family life. Centered on the child’s experience and refreshingly eschewing reference to controversy, the book emerges as a celebration of not only Mommy’s and Mama’s mutual love but progress toward equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Readers, however, don't know immediately know why it is “a very BIG day” for Donovan or what the “very BIG job” is that he has to do. In his affectionate, humorous gouache paintings with digital finish, Dutton cleverly includes clues in the form of family pictures in an earlier spread set inside their home, and then a later spread shows Donovan in a suit and placing a “little white satin box that Aunt Jennifer gave him” into his pocket, hinting toward his role as ring bearer. But it’s not until the third-to-last spread that he stands with his parents and hands “one shiny gold ring to Mommy [and] one shiny gold ring to Mama.” He, of course, gets to kiss the brides on the last page, lending a happily-ever-after sensibility to the end of this story about a family's new beginning. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58246-332-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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