A worthy look at peace.
Weaver (Praying with Our Feet, 2005) and Huston’s whimsically illustrated book has serious messages about peace and faith as they describe the unique history of a medal for peace.
This all-ages book explains how John P. Klassen created the Mennonite Central Committee Medallion, here told through the eyes of a fictional young boy named Isaak. In the 1920s, Isaak witnesses turmoil in what is now Ukraine, though he eventually sees violence transform into peace—sometimes literally. In the early 1900s, including during the Russian civil war that devastated many places and lives, Mennonite workers offered aid and farming supplies, operating as the unified Mennonite Central Committee after 1910. Seeing them do their work, Isaak helps Klassen—a real historical figure who later taught at Bluffton University, a Mennonite institution—create a way to honor their contributions. Isaak helps Klassen collect scattered bullets in the village, then melt them to create a lead medallion depicting an aid worker giving food to children. The medallion—of which one of the originals can be found at the Kauffman Museum in Kansas, with photos here—stands as a reminder that charity can be found in even the direst times. While touching on virtues of the Mennonites and the value of faith, the book doubles as an introduction for young readers to the history of the region and the healing power of art. It is sure to spark conversation in the classroom. Huston’s textured, colorful illustrations help make the narrative easy to follow for lap readers.
A worthy look at peace.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center of Bluffton University
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.
His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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