Incantatory pictures and words project a fresh world for people of all ages.
A grandmother records beach days spent with her grandchild in lyrical language and expressive artwork.
Kalman’s notes from her shore summer with Darling Baby turn into a gorgeous recounting of shared discoveries (seashells, stones, silver fish, rabbits) and experiences (a lightning storm, a bustling party, a nap on the lawn). Vivid full-bleed spreads deliver Technicolor experiences in vibrant strokes of pigment and words as well—Kalman incorporates hand-lettered text (in alternating emphatic caps and romantic script) into these charming paintings, allowing her voice and her images to seamlessly cohere. Readers bask in Kalman’s bright visions of summer’s sweetness absorbed alongside a child just greeting the world. The pair, at either end of mortality, find stones and shells and note that “Oskar the dog looked unhappy in his sweater.” Kalman’s ebullient illustrations, delightful portraiture, and idiosyncratic phrasing imbue the quotidian with complex (sometimes mysterious) meaning and weight. When waves pull a dead sea turtle back into “the vast ocean,” she tells the babe, “I think that is a good thing. At any rate, it is a thing. I am telling you this because I know you will understand.” Readers old and young will recognize the profound mutuality felt between grandmother and grandchild throughout this enchanting book, straightforward in affect but brimming with love. Its small trim emphasizes the intimacy of their relationship.
Incantatory pictures and words project a fresh world for people of all ages. (Picture book. 3-6, adult)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-33062-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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