A wry look at the unique dichotomy that is part and parcel of early childhood, this playful tale examines that nebulous time period when children are alternately big enough to do some things while too small to do others. Following the same successful format of her earlier titles, Bridges (If I Were Your Father, 1999, etc.) sets up the book as a dialogue between parent and child. A little girl wonders how she can be both big and little. In the ensuing whimsical exchange, mother and daughter explore the myriad ways in which the cherubic tot is both large and small. Their voices are distinct, with the mother affectionately describing all the reasons her daughter is still little while the child exuberantly proclaims her newfound abilities. “You’re little enough to ride piggyback to the stairs.” “But I’m big enough to hop all the way down.” Many of the examples illuminate the tiny accomplishments that herald a child’s fledgling independence; from serving her “guests” first at a tea party to patiently waiting for dessert. Lest readers think the young girl is becoming too sedate, she gleefully revels in childish pleasures, reaching out from beneath her bed to tickle her mother’s ankles and dressing her cat up like an infant. Dockray’s watercolors adeptly capture the exuberance of childhood. Her energetic drawings feature a doe-eyed child, with a mass of fiery-colored, corkscrew curls rioting about her head, cheerfully scampering about. Unabashedly sentimental, this cozy tale is ideal for lap sharing. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-58717-019-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: SeaStar/North-South
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
This extraordinary book will make it hard for any child reader to settle for the mundaneness of reality.
A testament to the power of an imaginative mind.
A compulsively creative, unnamed, brown-skinned little girl with purple hair wonders what she would do if the pencil she uses “to create…stories that come from my heart” disappeared. Turns out, it wouldn’t matter. Art can take many forms. She can fold paper (origami), carve wood, tear wallpaper to create texture designs, and draw in the dirt. She can even craft art with light and darkness or singing and dancing. At the story’s climax, her unencumbered imagination explodes beyond the page into a foldout spread, enabling readers both literally and figuratively to see into her fantasy life. While readers will find much to love in the exuberant rhyming verse, attending closely to the illustrations brings its own rewards given the fascinating combinations of mixed media Curato employs. For instance, an impressively colorful dragon is made up of different leaves that have been photographed in every color phase from green to deep red, including the dragon’s breath (made from the brilliant orange leaves of a Japanese maple) and its nose and scales (created by the fan-shaped, butter-colored leaves of a gingko). Sugar cubes, flower petals, sand, paper bags, marbles, sequins, and lots more add to and compose these brilliant, fantasy-sparking illustrations.
This extraordinary book will make it hard for any child reader to settle for the mundaneness of reality. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39096-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Great gobs of glue should be more fun than this. (Picture book. 4-7)
Can there be too much glue? Matty’s about to find out.
Matty’s art teacher warns him that too much glue will never dry, but Matty (and his dad) loves glue; they play with it constantly. So Matty finds the “fullest” bottle in the art room and squirts it all over his project. Then he flops down in the middle of the mess…and gets stuck. He’s “a blucky stucky mess!” His friends try to lasso him with yarn and haul him out, but the yarn breaks and gets stuck; now, he’s “a clingy stringy, blucky stucky mess.” A Lego tow truck snaps apart in another rescue attempt, making him a “click-brick, clingy stringy, blucky stucky mess!” When the bell rings, the glue’s dry, and dad must peel gluey Matty off the table. At home, he’s divested of his glue suit, and Dad puts a magnet on it and sticks it to the fridge. After dinner, the family explores the fun of duct tape. Despite the busy plot and superabundance of exclamation marks, Lefebvre’s debut never rises to the level of mayhem or fun it aspires to. The cumulative portion of the tale loses rhyme, rhythm and logic six pages before it ends. Retz’s Photoshop paintings are bright, wide-eyed and goofy, but they can’t add enough fun to compensate for the lackluster text.
Great gobs of glue should be more fun than this. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-9362612-7-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flashlight Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
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