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THE WORST TEDDY EVER

Name: THE WORST TEDDY EVER
Author: Marcelo Verdad
ISBN: 978-0-316-33045-9

by Marcelo Verdad ; illustrated by Marcelo Verdad ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

Great for bedtime or anytime.

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An unusual teddy-child relationship.

Noa, a brown-skinned child with scribbled black hair, loves taking Teddy to the breakfast table, the playground, and everywhere else, in the tradition of children with their favorite stuffed animals. But Noa is frustrated—the small, brown, round-eared bear is always sleepy, shown with line eyes drawn in the classic “asleep” curve. It’s somewhat unclear if this is in Noa’s imagination or if Teddy is actually sentient enough to be exhausted, but after an abrupt transition, the bright-yellow day scenes turn to dark-blue night. A ghost, the Boogeyman, the Tooth Fairy, and the Tickle Monster all drop by, just to visit, but Teddy doesn’t let them interrupt Noa’s sleep and sends them all kindly on their ways. Noa never discovers that Teddy is sleepy because of this nightly defense. There are some minor hiccups in the story’s pacing, and a reliance on all uppercase words to indicate emphasis (“Or at least they TRY to….Teddy is ALWAYS tired!”) points toward a blunter storytelling style. But this is more than made up for by the delightful, childlike illustrations, created with paper cutouts, acrylics, crayons, and digital collage, that brim with deep emotion and barely contained energy and will immediately appeal to young children. The plot is a fun, reassuring twist on several common themes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Great for bedtime or anytime. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-316-33045-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES, MR. BROWN?

by Justin Rhodes ; illustrated by Heather Dickinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2023

Pedestrian.

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Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.

Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 14, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE IN THE SCHOOL

by Laura Murray & illustrated by Mike Lowery ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2011

Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up.

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In Murray’s children’s debut, when a gingerbread man made by schoolchildren gets left behind at recess, he decides he has to find his class: “I’ll run and I’ll run, / As fast as I can. / I can catch them! I’m their / Gingerbread Man!”

And so begins his rollicking rhyming adventure as he runs, limps, slides and skips his way through the school, guided on his way by the friendly teachers he meets. Flattened by a volleyball near the gym, he gets his broken toe fixed by the kindly nurse and then slides down the railing into the art teacher’s lunch. Then it’s off to the principal’s office, where he takes a spin in her chair before she arrives. “The children you mentioned just left you to cool. / They’re hanging these posters of you through the school.” The principal takes him back to the classroom, where the children all welcome him back. The book’s comic-book layout suits the elementary-school tour that this is, while Lowery’s cartoon artwork fits the folktale theme. Created with pencil, screen printing and digital color, the simple illustrations give preschoolers a taste of what school will be like. While the Gingerbread Man is wonderfully expressive, though, the rather cookie-cutter teachers could use a little more life.

Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up. (Picture book. 4-7)