An evocative depiction of the rain cycle in the African savannah marks Stojic’s debut as writer and illustrator. Each page is filled with color, movement, and an impressionistic view of the African landscape. Brush strokes seem to leap off the page, and the representation of thunder, lightening, heat, and sunshine are visually exciting. Close-up drawings of the lion's large head, the porcupine's spiky bristles, and the zebra’s black and white face contrasted with its pink tongue, fill the pages along with giant lettering. The story begins as the dry season is ending. Each animal reacts to a sensory perception of the coming rainy season and tells another in cumulative style. Animals hear and see and taste and feel the rain. After it comes, they can’t feel and taste and hear it, but they can enjoy the benefits it brings. Then the cycle repeats. Stojic emphasizes action verbs, enlarged within the already oversized text. Water gushes and gurgles; mud is “cool, soft and squelchy.” The large-size text and colorful illustrations make this a good title for read-aloud and its predictive, repetitive text lends itself to group participation and discussion. A delightful title from a talented newcomer. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-517-80085-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2000
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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Hoping to have a garden like the one in her poetry book, Lola plants seeds, waits and weeds, and finally celebrates with friends.
The author and illustrator of Lola Loves Stories (2010) and its companion titles take their appealing character outside. Inspired by her favorite poem, the nursery rhyme “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” (repeated on the front endpapers), Lola chooses her favorite flowers from library books. Helped by her parents, she grows a grandly diverse flower garden, just right for a celebration with peas and strawberries from the family plot. Beardshaw’s acrylic illustrations show her garden in all its stages. They also show the copper-toned preschooler reading on her mother’s lap, making a flower book, a beaded string with bells and shells, a little Mary Mary doll and cupcakes for the celebration. Her bunchy ponytails are redone, and her flower shirt is perfect for the party. Not only has she provided the setting; she makes up a story for her friends. The simple sentences of the text and charming pictures make this a good choice for reading aloud or early reading alone. On the rear endpapers, the nursery rhyme has been adapted to celebrate “Lola, Lola, Extraordinary.”
It’s gratifying to see Lola’s love of books leading her to new experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-58089-694-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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A pleasing poem that celebrates babies around the world. Whether from a remote village or an urban dwelling, a tent or the snow, Fox notes that each “of these babies, / as everyone knows, / had ten little fingers / and ten little toes.” Repeated in each stanza, the verse establishes an easy rhythm. Oxenbury’s charming illustrations depict infants from a variety of ethnicities wearing clothing that invokes a sense of place. Her pencil drawings, with clean watercolor washes laid in, are sweetly similar to those in her early board books (Clap Hands, 1987, etc.). Each stanza introduces a new pair of babies, and the illustrations cleverly incorporate the children from the previous stanzas onto one page, allowing readers to count not only fingers and toes but also babies. The last stanza switches its focus from two children to one “sweet little child,” and reveals the narrator as that baby’s mother. Little readers will take to the repetition and counting, while parents will be moved by the last spread: a sweet depiction of mother and baby. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-15-206057-2
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2008
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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