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SWEET COMPETITION

Name: SWEET COMPETITION
Author: Liz Reed
ISBN: 978-0-06-240359-9

by Liz Reed ; illustrated by Jimmy Reed ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2016

Bit of a sticky mess

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A linked pair of cherries is the star of this fable with a familiar theme: cooperation is better than competition.

Uncomfortably joined at the stalk, each cherry has his or her own ideas for what he or she wants to do. (They are fraternal twins, gendered stereotypically with bows: Boy Cherry has a bowtie, Girl Cherry a bow on her bald red head.) They are always competing: higher or lower on the swings, cooler or smarter, double or triple ice cream cones. The joined-together problem becomes a major obstacle when they join two separate teams to compete in a super sundae event, along with other familiar food items including a banana, a jar of hot fudge, a brownie, and a bunch of scoops of ice cream. Belatedly the cherries realize that they can do better helping each other out than by competing. Girl Cherry helps Boy Cherry climb the ladder to the top of the sky-high split, then boy helps girl navigate the murky pool of melted dessert to Brownie’s float, and they join forces to beat out the competition at the talent show. The illustrations consist of staged photos of fairly crude painted clay representations of various foodstuffs positioned rather stiffly in minimal sets. The sculptures have a homespun quality that sometimes makes them difficult to interpret, and the food jokes are unrelenting (“Your team is jam on my toast!”).

Bit of a sticky mess .(Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-240359-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
SWEET SUCCESS
by Liz Reed & Jimmy Reed ; illustrated by Liz Reed & Jimmy Reed

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YOU ARE HOME WITH ME

by Sarah Asper-Smith ; illustrated by Mitchell Watley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2019

Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
I WOULD TEACH YOU TO FLY
by Sarah Asper-Smith ; illustrated by Mitchell Watley

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WHERE IS MY PINK SWEATER?

by Nicola Slater ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019

A sweet and subtle book on sharing.

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Rudy’s pink sweater is missing. Readers are invited to follow him as he searches for the sweater.

Rudy is a blue creature with a piggy snout, bunny ears, a thin, tufted tail, and a distraught look on his face. His beloved pink sweater is gone. “It was a bit too small and showed his belly button. But it was his favorite.” Where could it be? In a search that doubles as a countdown from 10 to one, Rudy makes his way through the different rooms of the house—top to bottom, inside and outside. As readers open the wardrobe door, “TEN tumbling cats” provide the first hint as to the sweater’s whereabouts. Following the pink yarn that runs across the pages, readers encounter some surprising creatures in each location—including a crocodile sitting in an outhouse busily knitting—as well as flaps to open and die cuts to peek through. Just as he’s about to give up hope—someone must’ve taken it, but “who would love wearing it as much as he did?”—the answer is revealed: “Trudy! His number ONE sister. The sweater fit her perfectly.” And, as is the nature of stories with a happy ending, Rudy gets a new sweater that fits him, from the knitting crocodile, of course. Plot, interactivity, vocabulary, and counting all contribute in making this an engaging book for the upper edge of the board-book range.

A sweet and subtle book on sharing. (Board book. 3-5)