Summer, the youngest child of Mother Earth and Father Time, takes readers along on her playful vacation in this latest addition to this duo’s wonderful series about the seasons. Summer is much too busy jubilantly celebrating all the joys of her life cycle by frolicking at the beach, swimming, building sandcastles, hiking, berry-picking, and camping beneath the coolness of the forest trees, to take heed of her parents’ reminder to tend first to her chores. Only after a frisky splash through the coolness of a waterfall and a gleeful climb up a mountain, does she realize her neglect—viewing the parched, brown earth below. She quickly begins her responsibility of sprinkling the necessary raindrops to quench a thirsty world, making everything bloom and green again. Summer then finishes off her work with the welcome colors of a rainbow, leaving her paints behind for sister Autumn to decorate with her traditional fall colors. Mixed-media acrylic-and-pencil illustrations dominated by brilliant, sunshine yellows burst from the page, beautifully blending with the mirthful, rollicking rhyme. A dazzling completion to an attractive series. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-84223-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bogacki's second book about two friends (Cat and Mouse, 1996) is a charming glass-half-empty/glass-half-full story. From their respective homes, the little mouse and the little cat want to go out to the meadow to play with each other, but their siblings warn them that it might rain. The two friends meet anyway, and thanks to an optimistic frog, the pair learn how to play in the drizzle. The text and illustrations shine in their simplicity; Bogacki's lines recreate rain and grass, and give the characters furry appeal. The circle of tolerance grows in this entry: During a second day of rain, all the little cats, all the little mice, and all the little frogs frolic together. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-374-31189-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Roslyn Rutabaga wakes up one morning with a grand plan: She wants to dig the Biggest Hole on Earth. Maybe it will even lead to the South Pole! She crunches down her carrot flakes and sets to work. But before she digs very far, an angry worm pops up and yells at her for digging up his front yard. Then she accidentally wakes a grouchy mole from his slumber. And finally, just when she thinks she’s found a Triceratops’s big-toe bone, a grumbling dog comes and snatches his dinner away. Roslyn flops back into the hole, defeated. She’s never going to meet a penguin now. But then her dad walks by and marvels at her work. The hole may not have reached the South Pole, but it does happen to be the perfect place for a picnic! With smudgy brown dirt flying and bits of carrots, leaves, boots and bugs (and at one point suggestive Chinese characters) strewn about in Gay’s torn-paper–and–mixed-media renderings, readers will find much to relish in the illustrations. Roslyn Rutabaga is one darned determined—and adorable—bunny. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-88899-994-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2010
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