Mr. Prospero is a staid businessman who loves the well-ordered world at his office. His suits are always pressed, his tie is always neatly knotted, his hair is always in place, and he always accomplishes his goals in the tidy, well-organized office in which he works. But when Mr. Prospero arrives home where his wife and his twins Harry and Miranda are waiting for him, things are, well, slightly less well-ordered than at work. The children excitedly demand that their dad take them to the playground to play on the beautiful long, red slide shaped like a dragon’s tongue. The children assure Daddy that he won’t get messy and dirty just watching them go down the slide and they convince him to take them. At the playground, Harry and Miranda beg their father to slide down with them. “We need a father sliding with us. And a dog!” Miranda says happily, knowing her father won’t say no to his children. Despite his misgivings and the threat of dirt on his clothes, Mr. Prospero agrees to slide down once. And then slides down once more, and again and again and again. In fact, when Harry and Miranda are tired and want to go home, Mr. Prospero is still climbing the steps to the top of the slide, sliding down, and then starting the process all over. By now, Mr. Prospero has lost his shoes, his shirt has come untucked, his tie is awry, and his hair is mussed. But he’s supremely happy. Children will delight in seeing a buttoned-down daddy loosen up and give in to the pleasure of doing something just because it’s fun. Although this world seems straight out of the 1950s in its homogeneity (all the characters are white and most of the girls and women wear dresses and are well-groomed), the lack of any sort of diversity will be more problematical for adults than for the children who will wholeheartedly love the concept. Warm illustrations rendered in acrylics and painted in a deliberately childlike style ably convey the children’s enthusiasm and their father’s initial ambivalence before he gives in to the exhilaration of sliding down the slide. There is too much empty white background in the design of the book, but this is a minor criticism. An enormously fun and joyous book that works equally well as a group read-aloud or one-on-one. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-531-30272-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children.
On hot summer nights, Amani’s parents permit her to go outside and play in the apartment courtyard, where the breeze is cool and her friends are waiting.
The children jump rope to the sounds of music as it floats through a neighbor’s window, gaze at stars in the night sky, and play hide-and-seek in the moonlight. It is in the moonlight that Amani and her friends are themselves found by the moon, and it illumines the many shades of their skin, which vary from light tan to deep brown. In a world where darkness often evokes ideas of evil or fear, this book is a celebration of things that are dark and beautiful—like a child’s dark skin and the night in which she plays. The lines “Show everyone else how to embrace the night like you. Teach them how to be a night-owning girl like you” are as much an appeal for her to love and appreciate her dark skin as they are the exhortation for Amani to enjoy the night. There is a sense of security that flows throughout this book. The courtyard is safe and homelike. The moon, like an additional parent, seems to be watching the children from the sky. The charming full-bleed illustrations, done in washes of mostly deep blues and greens, make this a wonderful bedtime story.
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55271-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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