A nicely illustrated volume with some lovely poems.
An author/illustrator reflects on popular topics such as animals, nature, and favorite childhood pastimes in this collection of poems and pictures.
This book features 17 poems, each including at least one accompanying illustration. The pieces’ structure and style are quite varied. Some poems are lengthier and span several pages; others are short and leave white space. The poems here are tender and relatable, such as “My Dog, Caesar,” which chronicles a child’s love for a sometimes-naughty pet, and “Cottontail Conundrum,” which contemplates why an animal who is “neither a hen nor a bird” delivers eggs during the Easter holiday. The poem “What Mice Do When It’s Raining” features fun, rhythmic phrasing (“Slippy splashy / Drippy droppy / Crashy flashy”), which children should enjoy sounding out. While the themes of the poems (including playgrounds, home, birthday wishes, picnics, and anthropomorphic wildlife) will likely appeal to young readers, the author frequently uses phrases and vocabulary that may require adult explanation. For example, the titular poem includes the lines “The hare intoned with unmitigated flair” and “I’ll zoom right away to your domicile.” The poem “Earth” asserts that “Earth is ellipsoidal.” Other pieces appear child-friendly yet end oddly. For example, in “Porcupine Quills,” the author ostensibly attempts to introduce counting concepts. The poem starts out with “0 is none / 1 is one / and 2 is double one” but culminates strangely: “Some thirty thousand quills it has! / It’s hard to comprehend a number so ginormous / The porcupine is uncommonly phe-nom-i-nous.” Still, Sutherland’s (Stories in Verses: For the Child You Love, 2016, etc.) soft, washed watercolor illustrations are quite delightful. The pictures here are integral to the poems, often mirroring the text. In “Earth,” the author skillfully fashions an interactive reading experience. The text references the images presented on subsequent pages, creatively engaging her audience: “See the tiger’s picture on the left / See the cheetah’s on the right / The boughs and leaves are up / The ground and grass are down, down.”
A nicely illustrated volume with some lovely poems.Pub Date: July 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-89294-7
Page Count: 58
Publisher: BoosterSeat Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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