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
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Richly colored illustrations and lyrical text portray a girl and her family in India waiting for the monsoon season to begin. “[G]ravelly, grainy, gritty dust” blows on the wind and won’t stop until the rains come. The level of anticipation is so high that every engine rumble sounds like thunder. A koel (songbird) sings “in a voice like melting sunshine,” and heat waves “dance upon rocks and shimmer over rooftops.” Sometimes the viewpoint is angled upward to emphasize the sky’s importance. Saturated colors fill every bit of every page (there’s no white space at all), fully conveying the hot, dusty air and the sense of impatience. When the “stretching, sweeping sheet of rain” finally arrives, the girl and her brother dance joyously in the street. An expressive story about seasons, extremes, and waiting. (glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-374-35015-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
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