Strom debuts with an determinedly exuberant book about a cool young African-American artist, Eloise, whose fondness for bold colors and boldly outlined shapes is happily echoed in the full-bleed acrylic spreads. Mama tells Eloise not to bother Joe when the two talk on the front steps, but it’s hard for Eloise to contain her eagerness to tell her elderly friend about her paintings. Far from bothered, the blind man she calls Rainbow Joe for reasons apparent only at book’s end loves to listen; he approves of her imagination. Rainbow Joe claims to make the colors he sees in his head. “I know how to make them sing,” he says early on. “One of these days I’m going to show you.” Eloise’s knowledge of the color wheel, which she shares incrementally with readers, tells her that vision is needed to mix colors. Even Mama says the only color a blind person can achieve is muddy gray. It isn’t until Joe unpacks his saxophone and plays colors that Mama and Eloise can see them. This exploration of sensory differences and similarities is enlightening and enchanting. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 1-880000-93-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
A brief, rhythmic text combines lullaby with concept book. An African-American baby and parent are shown in the illustrations. “Wrap your arms around me, make a circle, hold me tight. I’ll take you spinning through the air, as daylight turns to night.” The cuddled child is in pajamas, the moon is “like a night-light hanging high,” while the stars and child’s face and features are more examples of the lovingly conveyed main theme. The illustrations, portholes in the center of increasingly darker borders as night descends, show the parent and child with round objects—a goldfish bowl, a round mirror, etc. Engel (The Shelf- Paper Jungle, 1994, etc.) uses watercolors to portray whimsical moonscapes and a starry sky in pleasing and memorable ways. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7614-5040-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Following in the path of Fire Truck (1998), S°s transports young listeners to a realm they love, the world of trucks. Matt’s mother asks him to put his trucks away. He does so, accompanied by gerunds on every truck’s talent: digging, plowing, pushing, rolling. With each turn of the page, the text—running sideways up the right margin of the spread—and the trucks get a little larger. Soon, the text is fairly barking, while Matt manfully works the vehicles—he has become their size or they have become his. Toward the end of the book, in a gate-fold illustration, Matt is seated in an enormous crane, hoisting one of his socks; on the next page, his room is tidy, the toy trucks are stowed, and restored to their size, just as Matt is restored to his. As a last, obliging touch, the action moves outside, where Matt and his mother are off on an errand; their neighborhood is a hotbed of truck action. The world that S°s creates is wonderfully inviting, not least as a result of his artwork, with their simple, expressive lines and minimal use of color. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16276-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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