Warm illustrations with earth-toned backgrounds and more brightly dressed characters provide settings for this collection of 15 Spanish-language nursery rhymes. Delacre offers an English version of each rhyme—most in free rather than rhyming verse; some more literal than others—and, at the back, musical settings for 11 of them. Several are pat-a-cake–style rhymes, involving hand movements and basic rhythms. Others end with a child-pleasing tickle under the arm, and others are for soothing hurts or preparing a child for bed. Given the mostly free-verse settings of the English versions, these will be more useful as guides for non- or limited-Spanish speakers who want to use the Spanish, rather than as free-standing poems for chanting together. A tender collection, most welcome for the home and perhaps also appropriate for some daycare or lapsit settings. (Poetry. 0-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-159-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2004
A story of perseverance and love.
Onyx has a secret.
It’s 1970, and following the death of his grandmother, Onyx, a 12-year-old Black boy, is left living alone with his mother, who has early onset dementia. Fearing losing Mama, too, he keeps her condition a secret from everyone and instead vows to make sure that he keeps up the show of everything being OK at home. His days are filled with completing chores, leaving sticky notes for Mama to read when she wakes up, attending Catholic school, and catching up with his cousins and other relatives when he can. Onyx relies on the knowledge passed on to him by his grandmother to manage their Alexandria, Virginia, home—shopping for groceries and preparing simple meals for himself and his mother. As her condition begins to worsen, however, he desperately tries to find a way to help Mama get her memories back. Facing the looming threat of a home visit by social workers, Onyx takes bigger and bigger risks in his attempts to return his mother to her former self. Written in verse through the eyes of a child, the novel tackles complex topics honestly yet hopefully. As readers follow Onyx in his endeavors to help his mother, they’re also given a glimpse into being a young Black boy who, for all his troubles in life, has just as many joyful moments with his family and friends.
A story of perseverance and love. (author’s note) (Verse historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781250908780
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Festive fun.
A small fox receives a special holiday visitor: a Santa who is just his size.
How often do young children fear the world is too big and overwhelming to notice them? In this adorable board book with an appropriately tiny trim, a diminutive fox worries that Santa will overlook him because he is “too little / And Santa’s sled too high.” But the “teeny tiny fox”—and toddler listeners—is reassured that he won’t be forgotten when the titular “teeny tiny Santa” not only notices the fox, but brings him a fun-sized “teeny tiny treat,” finishing up the visit with a “teeny tiny pat”—all images that are sure to delight youngsters. Santa leaves as the fox curls up in a den carpeted with a cozy blanket and bedecked with lights; it’s a gratifying ending. The text is related in a staccato rhythm, and it takes a verse or two to become accustomed to the book’s clipped tone, but the repetitive “teeny tiny” refrain is catchy. Visually, it’s holly-jolly, with clean-looking digital art using simple geometric shapes to form triangular trees and circular, grinning snowman while icy blue-green backgrounds allow the flashy copper fox and pale-skinned Santa, with his “ruby-colored” cheeks, to look vibrant. The rotund Santa, the angular and sleek fox, and a team of wee reindeer all have a vintage, 1950s look that well complements the straightforward story.
Festive fun. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31849-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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