This first solo outing by the illustrator of The Wrong Overcoat (2000) is a wry tale with a familiar ring. When Aunty Ethel knits a new wool sweater for her, Rabbit staunchly refuses to wear it because Mr. Cuddles, her constant companion, doesn't have a matching one. Overruled by her pragmatic mother—“Mr. Cuddles doesn't need a woolly sweater . . . He has you to keep him warm”—Rabbit reluctantly dons the offending garment for her jaunt to the park. Yet with a wily determination, Rabbit finds a way to foil her mother's edict. As soon as she reaches the park, the sweater is abandoned, left on the ground to be trod upon and used as a soccer goal. Once home, Rabbit's mother immediately washes the muddied garment, with the inevitable results. Rabbit's once large sweater emerges from the wash small enough to fit her pint-sized pal—and with the capriciousness of youth—Rabbit decides she wants a sweater just like Mr. Cuddles'. Although parents may grimace at Rabbit's machinations, Birchall's simple tale resonates with young readers, who will recognize a kindred spirit in the mischievous Rabbit. For the real fun, Birchall's puckish illustrations, filled with messy details, steal the show. Rendered in a sparkling palette of hues, the playful watercolors contain a plethora of jokes designed to captivate and titillate young audiences: Mole's father dropping his ice cream on the sweater; Rabbit performing an awe-inspiring header that sends the mud-encased soccer ball straight into the sweater "goal." While perhaps not the most mannerly of stories, Birchall's delightfully naughty tale is good, er, clean fun. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-57505-465-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world.
A quiet book for putting young children to bed in a state of snowy wonder.
The magic of the north comes alive in a picture book featuring Inuit characters. In the sky at nighttime, snow falls fast. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a raven roosts atop a tall building. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a mother’s delicate song to her child arises like a gentle breeze.” With the repetition of the simple, titular refrain, the author envisions what happens in a small town at night: Young children see their breath in the cold; a hunter returns on his snowmobile; the stars dazzle in the night sky. A young mother rocks her baby to sleep with a song and puts the tot down with a trio of stuffed animals: hare, polar bear, seal. The picture book evokes a feeling of peace as the street lamps, northern lights, and moon illuminate the snow. The illustrations are noteworthy for the way they meld the old world with what it looks like to be a modern Indigenous person: A sled dog and fur-lined parkas combine easily with the frame houses, a pickup truck, power lines, and mobile-hung crib. By introducing Indigenous characters in an unremarkably familiar setting, the book reaches children who don’t always see themselves in an everyday context.
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77227-238-3
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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