A charming celebration of reading told through rhyming text and an atmospheric mix of photos and colorful illustrations.
When their storybooks disappear, two siblings set out to find the thief, meeting friends along the way.
Bedtime for white siblings Evan and Mila means sharing a good book before settling down to sleep. But choosing their story won’t be easy when they discover their bookshelves are bare. After seeing a trail of scattered books outside, the children “climbed out the window and followed the trail, / Bringing their wagon to collect every tale.” Told in rhyme as a cumulative story, this appealing debut picture book by Groberman and Solomon follows Evan and Mila on their quest. The siblings find their volumes in the clutches of animals—including a raccoon, a bear, and a snake—who turn out to be book-loving opportunists, not bandits. Each furred, feathered, and scaly character the children encounter joins in the search for the rest of the missing books until they locate the culprit (whose identity is a comic surprise). The message—that books are treasures and reading is fun that can be shared—comes through clearly in the simple, pleasantly rhythmic text and Solomon’s vivid, cartoon-style illustrations, superimposed over Groberman’s original photographs of night skies, fields, lakes, and forest. The authors are partners in a company specializing in children’s wall murals and prints.
A charming celebration of reading told through rhyming text and an atmospheric mix of photos and colorful illustrations.Pub Date: July 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3225-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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