Take a turn beneath the stars with this gently spiritual paean to the power and pleasure of dancing without fear.
L’Engle’s 1969 retelling of the biblical tale of the flight into Egypt finds new life on the picture-book page.
“Once there was a night in the desert when nobody was afraid and everybody danced.” As the story begins, danger looms, and a family of three—Mary, Joseph, and a toddler-aged Jesus, though they go unnamed—seek to cross the desert in a caravan. They’re refused passage by a number of caravans, but one deigns to pick them up. One evening, as members of the caravan play different instruments, a lion appears. Unafraid, the child approaches, and the two begin to dance. Soon the lion is followed by a veritable zoo of animals, including everything from penguins and pelicans to adders and ostriches. At long last the youngster sleeps, and the dawn breaks. “The dance was over. The journey would continue.” Though abridged, L’Engle’s lilting text still features the literary embellishments of the earlier edition, as when she notes that a desert is like an ocean: “And then suddenly there is nothing, nothing but waves of sand shifting and sliding in the wind, stretching out to eternity on every side.” Le’s ethereal illustrations evoke both beauty and whimsy as beasts and birds cavort upon the sand. The result will please both parochial and secular readers. Most characters are tan- or brown-skinned.
Take a turn beneath the stars with this gently spiritual paean to the power and pleasure of dancing without fear. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780374391287
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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