Here comes the bride . . . and the flower girl. Daisy loves playing Brides with her favorite babysitter, Allie. She loves dressing up, carrying the basket of flower petals and pretending her cat is the groom. Imagine Daisy’s excitement when she finally gets to be a real flower girl. After all this practice, Daisy is well-prepared for her responsibilities. Allie allows Daisy to help plan the big day, right down to the fireworks, and even lets her choose her own, perfect blue-sky dress with tiny pink flowers. Daisy’s preparation comes in handy on the real day when things do not go exactly as planned. Even when faced with an unexpected storm and blackout, Daisy is unruffled and steps in to save the day. Short, quick-moving chapters dotted with delightful girly illustrations make this a perfect choice for many new readers who love to play dress up and imagine the glamour of being in a wedding. (Early reader. 4-7)
Pub Date: April 24, 2007
ISBN: 0-375-83110-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2007
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The venerable and prolific Carle (Hello, Red Fox, 1998, etc.) offers a quiet Christmas story with a little music at the end. A farmer lives alone on a small farm with so few animals that he calls them One, Two, Three, Four, and Five. Oh, he also has a tree named Tree. One night near Christmas he falls asleep in his favorite chair after his peppermint tea, and dreams that he is covered in a white blanket. On successive pages, One the horse, Two the Cow, Three the sheep, and so on are each covered in a snowflake blanket, accomplished by an acetate page of flakes and an amorphous shape that when turned reveals the animal. When the farmer awakes and finds it has snowed for real, he dresses himself warmly, decorates Tree, and strews gifts for all five animals under it. When he shouts “Merry Christmas to all!” he pushes a button that children can push, producing a lovely Yuletide tinkle. The pictures are in Carle’s trademark richly colored and textured collages that capture the snowy magic of Christmas. Adults may be charmed to see that Carle dedicates the book to Barry Moser, who modeled for the farmer, although from the photo on the back cover Carle and Moser could pass for brothers with their shiny pates and neat white beards. Cotton candy. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-399-23579-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An interactive book works to get its titular message across to readers.
The narrator, an anthropomorphic cartoon heart with big eyes and stick arms and legs, is nothing if not exuberant in its attempts, clumsy and cloying as they may be. “I love you so much, / but there’s more in my heart. / How is that possible? / Well, where do I start? // Now move in close, and you will see / just how much you mean to me. // My love is huge—below, above. / As you can tell, there’s always more love!” The page following the instruction to move in shows a close-up of the top of the heart and its eyes, one stick arm pointing skyward, though despite the admonition “you can tell,” readers will glean nothing about love from this picture. À la Hervé Tullet, the book prompts readers to act, but the instructions can sometimes be confusing (see above) and are largely irrelevant to the following spread, supposedly triggered by the suggested actions. The heart, suddenly supplied with a painter’s palette and a beret and surrounded by blobs of color, instructs readers to “Shake the book to see what I can be.” The page turn reveals hearts of all different colors, one rainbow-striped, and then different shapes. Most troublingly, the heart, who is clearly meant to be a stand-in for loved ones, states, “I’m always here for you,” which for too many children is heartbreakingly not true.
Skip. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-1376-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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