Lightheartedly instructive, this collaboration will delight parents and young children alike.
Human parents gently teach their “almost brand-new” dragon to suppress his natural but dangerous fire-breathing ability.
Fox’s well-turned rhyming quatrains clearly link these fiery lapses with toddlers’ own naughty tendencies, so much the focus of early parental guidance. The tiny dragon’s damaging exhalations result in collateral damage and real danger, which Davick depicts as a singed shoe and, dramatically, burning toys. (The parents are shown dowsing the playtime fire with a hose and water pitcher, though a final spot illustration, more appropriately, does hang a fire extinguisher next to the dragon’s cradle.) Fox clearly demonstrates that the dragon’s innately fiery outbursts, consistently and lovingly addressed by the parents, are unintentional: “And he also tries hard / to behave as required, / but flames often spout / when he’s hungry or tired.” Text and illustrations deftly convey the dragon’s bewilderment, fear, sorrow, relief, and contentment. Using flat color, simple patterns, and generous amounts of white space, Davick depicts the parents as large-bodied with light brown skin. One has shoulder-length brown hair and wears pink capri pants and a pompom-trimmed top; the other has short black hair and sports periwinkle windowpane-checked trousers. The wee dragon is portrayed with multiple shades of green, with spots, stripes, and diaphanous green wings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Lightheartedly instructive, this collaboration will delight parents and young children alike. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781534453333
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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