An unfocused effort overall, both in illustration quality and in plot development.
A tiny Yorkshire terrier named Lola narrates her third entry in a series, this time focusing on a new addition to the family, her fellow Yorkie named Zeke.
The story is told in first person by Lola, although the identity of the narrator is not clearly specified. She calls Zeke her little brother even though Zeke is larger in size, a point of potential confusion for the audience despite her explanation. The plot recounts multiple incidents of misbehavior by Lola, such as leaving muddy paw prints on the floor or lying about brushing her teeth. Zeke repeatedly tattles on Lola to an unnamed authority, presumably the dogs’ owner. Zeke then unintentionally causes some minor trouble—spilling a water dish, ripping the arm of the teddy bear—and the family cat then tattles on him. Lola comforts him, and then Zeke refrains from tattling, concluding sagely that accidents will happen. The premise falls flat, as exactly how Zeke and the cat actually communicate with their owner is unclear, and the concept of one pet “telling” on another is never fully explained. The quality of the photographic illustrations is inconsistent, with some photos of the dogs rather blurry and several shots with one dog’s face turned away. The photographs don’t really capture either the dogs’ personalities or a convincing relationship between the pair. The book concludes with a curriculum guide offering discussion questions and activities that relate to the story.
An unfocused effort overall, both in illustration quality and in plot development. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-939547-16-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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