A picture book manquÇ, consisting of hypothetical answers to the question posed by the title: Do fairies choose the sharpest teeth to make their saws? Or the roundest ones to make maraca sounds? On such inconclusive musings the story quickly fizzles: It has no backbone, and the ideas are not nearly imaginative enough to grab readers. The book is kept afloat by comic watercolors; endearingly messy fairies are busy in each scene, sincere in their efforts to make use of the horde. The premise suits children's sensibilities perfectly, but its execution lacks bite. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1996
ISBN: 1-55209-001-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
Rick the bear and his pal, Jack the rabbit, star in their second emergent reader, featuring just one or two short and simple sentences per page. Rick is sick in bed and Jack tries to help by bringing hot tea and an ice pack, by sitting on Rick’s tummy, and finally by curling up next to Rick for a nap. McPhail’s appealing animal characters are full of expression as always, with the pair of devoted friends featured in circular watercolor-and-ink illustrations alternating with pages of text. The actual story is just 16 pages long, with the remaining pages devoted to a follow-up activity (creating a friendship award), a page of discussion questions, author biography, and two pages of information about the Green Light Readers series, including a list of titles. This format seems intended for classroom use and includes guided reading and Reading Recovery levels for teachers. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-15-205091-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Green Light/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2004
A full-hearted valentine.
A soaring panegyric to elementary school as a communal place to learn and grow.
“This is a kid,” Schu begins. “This is a kid in a class. This is a class in a hall….” If that class—possibly second graders, though they could be a year to either side of that—numbers only about a dozen in Jamison’s bright paintings, it makes up for that in diversity, with shiny faces of variously brown or olive complexion well outnumbering paler ones; one child using a wheelchair; and at least two who appear to be Asian. (The adult staff is likewise racially diverse.) The children are individualized in the art, but the author’s narrative is addressed more to an older set of readers as it runs almost entirely to collective nouns and abstract concepts: “We share. We help. / This is a community, growing.” Younger audiences will zero in on the pictures, which depict easily recognizable scenes of both individual and collective learning and play, with adults and classmates always on hand to help out or join in. Signs of conflict are unrealistically absent, but an occasional downcast look does add a bit of nuance to the general air of eager positivity on display. A sad face at an apartment window with a comment that “[s]ometimes something happens, and we can’t all be together” can be interpreted as an oblique reference to pandemic closings, but the central message here is that school is a physical space, not a virtual one, where learning and community happen. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A full-hearted valentine. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0458-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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