Heartwarming and delightful, the story brings readers right into the tiny mouse Bubble’s bedroom as her mother tucks her into bed. As the big sister to her “still-sort-of-new baby sister” Squeak, Bubble acts concerned for her sister’s nighttime needs and, through a series of questions phrased with Squeak in mind, Mom and Bubbles walk through all of the important rituals like checking the closet for monsters, making warm milk and reading bedtime stories. Although Bubbles seems to act with Squeak’s best interests at heart, slightly older readers will quickly guess by Bubble’s earnest questioning and facial expressions that she isn’t quite ready to give up the bedtime rituals with Mom. Banta’s full-page soft acrylic illustrations give Bubbles and Mom spunk, and playful endpapers with Bubble tumbling around in her jammies add to this tale’s appeal for intimate sharing at bedtime. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7614-5310-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
A sweet debut that offers a tongue-in-cheek instruction manual for new big sisters.
In social worker Ahuja’s picture book, a well-worn topic—the arrival of a new sibling—gets a multicultural twist.
As the book opens, its young dark-skinned protagonist resists the new baby. “Baby’s loud. Baby’s messy. Sometimes Baby really smells,” she narrates. She then decides that “baby doesn’t know the house rules yet” and proceeds to induct the new baby into the ways of the family. In these spreads, Echeverri’s playful illustrations subtly reinforce this interracial family as Black and South Asian: Mom wears a dupatta during family movie night, and Grandma and Grandpa make rice pudding with their granddaughter; like the protagonist, Dad is illustrated as dark brown, but his black hair is tightly curled while hers is straight; the new baby is painted light brown like Mom but has Dad’s hair texture. As is common in this genre of books, the protagonist grows to accept and love her new sibling, her rules moving from restrictive to playful and inclusive. “The last and most important rule is, no matter what, we stick together,” she explains. “Because… / we’re a team now.” This good-hearted title is one of two concurrent releases from Ahuja; It’s Big Brother Time! is the second, which is nearly identical but depicts the family as Black and East Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally with 6.5-by-13-inch double-page spreads viewed at 33.1% of actual size.)
A sweet debut that offers a tongue-in-cheek instruction manual for new big sisters. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-288438-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperFestival
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Parent-child bonding has never looked cozier, as a huge brown Papa bear and a very small cub spend quality time together from dawn till dusk in a leafy forest. The cub takes the narrative lead: “My daddy wakes me. My daddy feeds me,” and so on, until after “My daddy cuddles me” the pair drowse to the simple declaration, “I love my daddy.” Braun depicts hazy-edged figures and settings in long brushstrokes of golden toned browns and yellows, on a bottom layer of cool, green, flower-strewn grass. In a companion volume, I Love My Mommy (ISBN: 0-06-054310-8), he uses a similar arc and some of the same lines, but includes more abstract observations—“My mommy works really hard,” “My mommy is always there for me”—and depicts a different animal pair on each spread. Both make perfect fare for an intimate shared reading, though parents may come away feeling a little pressured by the high expectations. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-06-054311-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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