Collaborators Scanlon and Vernick (Dear Substitute, 2018, etc.) team up once again to explore the relativity of time.
Five minutes is just 300 seconds, but it can feel like an eternity when waiting in line or sitting in traffic. Five minutes is never enough time to prepare for something scary and definitely insufficient for roller-coaster rides and bedtime stories. From play time to chore time, children and adults alike will sympathize with the young protagonist as the child vacillates between interminably long and painfully brief five-minute stretches in daily life. The sparse and simple text repeats the “five minutes” refrain ad infinitum but invites readers to delve into Tallec’s energetic and expressive pencil and acrylic illustrations, which communicate the wide-eyed anxiety, frustration, and contentment as the clock ticks along. The child writhes with discomfort in line for the bathroom and jumps up and down with impatience at suppertime, both circumstances children will instantly recognize. Careful pacing helps to stretch out five-minute eternities and provide funny juxtapositions, as in two contrasting scenes at the dentist’s office. The book also opens itself to exploration of concepts of emotional intelligence, patience, and the passage of time. The child appears biracial, with a white-presenting dad and brown-skinned mom.
An accessible story that entices readers to slow down and enjoy a moment (maybe five?) in its company . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-51631-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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SEEN & HEARD
Children point out the things they love about their fathers.
“Daddy is always kind. He gives us support and shelter when things go wrong.” A child with a skinned knee (and downed ice cream cone) gets a bandage and loving pat from Daddy (no shelter is visible, but the child’s concerned sibling sweetly extends their own cone). Daddy’s a storyteller, a magician, supportive, loyal, silly, patient, and he knows everything. A die-cut hole pierces most pages, positioned so that the increasingly smaller holes to come can be seen through it; what it represents in each scene varies, and it does so with also-variable success. The bland, nonrhyming, inconsistent text does little to attract or keep attention, though the die cuts might (until they fall victim to curious fingers). The text also confusingly mixes first-person singular and plural, sometimes on the same page: “Daddy is like a gardener. He lovingly cares for us and watches us grow. I’m his pride and joy!” Even as the text mixes number the illustrations mix metaphors. This particular gardener daddy is pictured shampooing a child during bathtime. Más’ cartoon illustrations are sweet if murkily interpretive, affection clearly conveyed. Troublingly, though, each father and his child(ren) seem to share the same racial presentation and hair color (sometimes even hairstyle!), shutting out many different family constellations. Más does, however, portray several disabilities: children and adults wearing glasses, a child with a cochlear implant, and another using a wheelchair.
Skip this well-meaning but poorly executed celebration. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12305-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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