Easy to read and mildly enjoyable, best for kids learning to read on their own.
A rhyming, songlike book of illustrated short stories for kids to read aloud.
In this collection of bedtime stories, children and animals learn to work together as a team, to treat their mothers with respect, and how to relax when they’re stressed out. Davis presents the 10 stories as poems, some of which are written in stanza form; the repetition, spelled-out words—“It’s my home that completes me. H-O-M-E, HOME”—and abundance of exclamation points help make them good for kids to read aloud with their parents. For instance, in “Row with me,” a poem about finding friends to help row a boat with, Davis writes: “We all row so well. We all yelled, ‘hurray!’ / The bell sounded off as tingles and jingles! How great! / at the finish line our mates row to go and go. / We won the race with a ho ho ho hi ho!!!” A singsong quality to the writing makes it flow easily, and each story is very short, in either one or two columns on a single page—an ideal length for reading a few before bed. A colorful illustration faces each story and helps explain the text, which could be helpful for young children trying to understand the book themselves. Some of the stories have a clear, well-outlined plot, such as “Moody Blues”: “Those moody, moody blues showed up too. / Sweetheart too much fretting is upsetting. / Don’t feel sad and mad that it upset you?! You upset me too! / You can’t let those moody, moody blues come over you.” Other stories, however, such as “Beautiful Blue Diamond,” about a ballerina getting a new “Bluetifull blue” ring and twirling about, don’t have much of a plot or enough to capture the imagination of young readers. Kids looking for engaging stories might not be satisfied here, but those learning to sound out words and to read on their own will appreciate the rhymes and silly phrases.
Easy to read and mildly enjoyable, best for kids learning to read on their own.Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-1493126743
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Roman charms with an imaginative, whimsical picture book that will entertain even the oldest pirates.
Debut author Roman pens a picture book about an imaginative boy who transforms his bed and stuffed animals into props for a marvelous pirate adventure.
Roman draws the reader in from the first page with illustrations that are cheerful and clever. The story showcases a young pirate and his menagerie: cousin Hallie, a first mate who sports a purple bandanna and ruffled pirate shirt; Linus, the loudmouthed but scaredy-cat lion with a braided goatee; Fribbet, the floppy frog with an audacious red pirate hat; and Mongo, the mast-climbing monkey who charms with an eye patch and endearingly oversized lips. Roman deftly creates an appealing visual experience with engaging, bright illustrations that will appeal to young readers. The characters are rich with animated expressions and personalities that showcase the creative and warmhearted ways the characters have fun. Well-drafted secondary characters also include the “mermaid” who appears with a plate of golden doubloons (in the form of cookies) and orders the pirate not to get crumbs on the bed when eating them. The text has a lovely intonation when read aloud, and the simple, understandable story also carries a more complex, clever subtext that will allow for educational discussions. The captain’s constant good-natured lament that “being a captain is hard work”—as he watches his crew do all the actual labor—is hilarious and a pleasant opportunity to teach children about the nuances of words and their layers of meaning. The author’s adept use of genuine pirate terms—“swab the decks,” “pump the bilges” and “me hearties”—adds flavor and authenticity to the story, too. The captain and his crew sit down with a dictionary to figure out what “shiver me timbers” means, and then they take great delight upon using the phrase correctly; children will, too.
Roman charms with an imaginative, whimsical picture book that will entertain even the oldest pirates.Pub Date: April 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615534657
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Michael/Okon
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A well-researched but lackluster children’s book.
Australian author Williams (May We Call You Grandpa?, 2013) offers young readers insight into the lives of the small crustaceans called yabbies.
Yelverton is a yabbie, a shellfish that lives at the bottom of a dam, and in this book aimed at a young audience, he explains his life cycle and some of the hazards of his dangerous existence. The nature illustrations that accompany Yelverton’s casual explanations give a somewhat scientific flavor to the book’s early sections, as Williams depicts the “berry” eggs under a mother yabbie’s tail, the growth of a yabbie from egg to egg-head, and small yabbies eating a larger yabbie alive when the older crustacean’s shell is in a soft state. The images, with their diagramlike flair, are among the most intriguing in the book; others are uneven, particularly depictions of birds. As Yelverton catalogs the dangers of his life under the dam, he shares general environmental concerns about subjects such as dirty water and humans’ yabbie traps. The yabbie seems unconcerned by the dangers, however, which may cause young readers not to empathize with him. His limited point of view falters about halfway through the text, when he relies on a passing swallow and seagull to tell him about the fate of captured yabbies. Although the author ably handles the subjects of danger and death early on, she neglects to explain exactly what humans use yabbies for. Are they eaten, used for bait or both? Australian audiences might be more familiar with the little crustaceans, but Americans may be baffled. Other readers may want to look up details the book leaves out, such as the region of the world in which yabbies may be found.
A well-researched but lackluster children’s book.Pub Date: April 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-1483623580
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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