Like many kids, Meriam doesn’t like to get ready for bed. But is Meriam really like other kids? When her mother tries to comb Meriam’s tangled hair, a shell falls out. Meriam explains she’s been lying in sand at the beach. Then her mother finds a piece of seaweed and Meriam reveals she’s been diving deep, deep, deep beneath the ocean waves to where starfish live, dolphins play and octopuses dance. In fact, Meriam has managed to pluck a pretty pearl from the ocean’s bottom for her mother. As Meriam continues her evening toilette, a little fish jumps out of her ear and a baby crab scuttles from behind her neck. What next? But Meriam is ready for bed, happy that she doesn’t need to clean between her toes. Against an ocean-blue backdrop of floating fish, shells and stars, wondrously whimsical illustrations show the aquatic Meriam with her mass of tangled curls frolicking like a water baby in the sea. And the pictures take the story through to its surprising end. A perfect bedtime “tail.” (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: July 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-439-79610-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bogacki's second book about two friends (Cat and Mouse, 1996) is a charming glass-half-empty/glass-half-full story. From their respective homes, the little mouse and the little cat want to go out to the meadow to play with each other, but their siblings warn them that it might rain. The two friends meet anyway, and thanks to an optimistic frog, the pair learn how to play in the drizzle. The text and illustrations shine in their simplicity; Bogacki's lines recreate rain and grass, and give the characters furry appeal. The circle of tolerance grows in this entry: During a second day of rain, all the little cats, all the little mice, and all the little frogs frolic together. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-374-31189-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A small rabbit awakens to the sunlight of an ordinary day. He yawns, stretches, sets aside his teddy bunny, and gets dressed to go check his mailbox, where he finds a key. Birds in human clothing point the way to the lock that the key opens: “the gate that led through the garden to the great pink house.” The house looms palatial on the double-spread page, but its opened door is bunny-sized. It’s a dollhouse sort of great house presented in pastel-soft, cake-sweet illustrations. From there, the cunningly contrived white-ribbon path, on which appears minimal, large-type text, continues into “the magical room,” where animal toys and dolls dance, the small rabbit rides the rocking horse, the lion performs acrobatics, a monkey juggles, and the three little pigs squeal with delight at a cake with candles. Everyone sings the rabbit’s favorite song, “Happy Birthday to Me,” a sentiment echoed generically in the ultimate spread, which makes of this whole trip a handsome birthday card for the very youngest of celebrants. The magic here springs from a vision absolutely abandoned in fairy-cake fantasy, a complementary collaboration of dream-state text and the cuddliest of visuals. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: June 30, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16679-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2001
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