Culturally immersive, exquisitely illustrated, and endearingly playful, this French import should be as widely shared as the...
A story of what happens when we share.
Sékou, the village chief’s oldest son, travels to market with his father and returns with an object that no one thinks they need during the dry season in this West African village: a colorful umbrella. Standing on a chair, the boy announces the umbrella’s availability to everyone, provided they return it to his father’s hut each evening. A mother shades her newborn beneath it; boys make money by using it as the roof of a “pee-shack” for bus travelers; and fishermen can use it to keep the elephants’ spray from soaking them at the riverside. By the time the umbrella returns, tattered and torn, Sékou has become the village chief, and his son starts the sharing cycle all over again. Traoré creates arresting cut-paper collage illustrations with bright, bold colors and simple shapes against generous white space that will invite readers back to the pages again and again. Reminiscent of Synthia Saint James’ artwork, the characters in this picture book have no facial features, but Traoré portrays them so expressively that they don’t need them; one can easily read joy, impatience, excitement, and welcome in their body language. The use of brown type against the constant white background reminds readers that brown is the visual default in this world of beautiful Black people. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Culturally immersive, exquisitely illustrated, and endearingly playful, this French import should be as widely shared as the umbrella. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4788-7378-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience.
The How to Catch A… crew try for Comet.
Having already failed to nab a Halloween witch, the Easter Bunny, a turkey, a leprechaun, the Tooth Fairy, and over a dozen other iconic trophies in previous episodes of this bestselling series, one would think the racially diverse gaggle of children in Elkerton’s moonlit, wintry scenes would be flagging…but no, here they lay out snares ranging from a loop of garland to an igloo baited with reindeer moss to an enticing candy cane maze, all in hopes of snagging one of Santa’s reindeer while he’s busy delivering presents. Infused with pop culture–based Christmas cheer (“Now I’ve already seen the shelf with the elf”), Comet prances past the traps until it’s time to gather up the kids, most of whom look terrified, for a group snapshot with the other reindeer and then climb back into harness: “This was a great stop but a few million to go / Christmas Eve must continue with style!” Though festive, the verse feels trite and unlikely to entice youngsters. A sprinkling of “True Facts About Reindeer” (“They live in the tundra, where they have friends like the arctic bunny”) wrap up this celebration of the predatory spirit. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 9781728276137
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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