An accessible story that entices readers to slow down and enjoy a moment (maybe five?) in its company
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 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 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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