A homemade rainbow serves as a bright reminder that all rainstorms end.
“All of the world had to stay home today,” a White child gripes, then jumps at her mother’s suggestion that they make a rainbow to hang in the window. Each color offers its own challenges and associations, from RED, which reminds the young painter of the chairs in her classroom, to VIOLET, the name of her sharply missed best friend. Why not give her a video call? As it turns out, Violet, a child of color, is making a rainbow for her window too—a terrific chance to get out of the house: “We walk to see hers, / and she walks to see mine. / We wave to each other and really, it’s fine. / Not perfect—but neither’s my rainbow. So what? / I’m perfectly happy with all that I’ve got.” Using paint, crayon, and paper collage, Hamilton illustrates Robinson’s reassuring rhyme with simply drawn scenes that begin with a street scene in which several windows are filled with diverse residents longingly looking out and end with an equally diverse group of children (including one in a wheelchair) playing in a puddle beneath a big natural rainbow. The book alludes to the social isolation of the current pandemic without naming it or touching on the many tragedies it’s wrought, ending reassuringly: “we’ll still have each other when this rainstorm ends!” (Here’s hoping.) A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Save the Children. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.6-by-21.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 79% of actual size.)
Nonspecific, soothing, and likely to put rainbows in many a real window. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0713-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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PERSPECTIVES
A monohued tally of positive character traits.
Purple is a “magic color,” affirm the authors (both actors, though Hart’s name recognition is nowhere near the level of Bell’s), and “purple people” are the sort who ask questions, laugh wholeheartedly, work hard, freely voice feelings and opinions, help those who might “lose” their own voices in the face of unkindness, and, in sum, can “JUST BE (the real) YOU.” Unlike the obsessive protagonist of Victoria Kann’s Pinkalicious franchise, being a purple person has “nothing to do with what you look like”—a point that Wiseman underscores with scenes of exuberantly posed cartoon figures (including versions of the authors) in casual North American attire but sporting a wide range of ages, skin hues, and body types. A crowded playground at the close (no social distancing here) displays all this wholesome behavior in action. Plenty of purple highlights, plus a plethora of broad smiles and wide-open mouths, crank up the visual energy—and if the earnest overall tone doesn’t snag the attention of young audiences, a grossly literal view of the young narrator and a grandparent “snot-out-our-nose laughing” should do the trick. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.4-by-20.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 22.2% of actual size.)
The buoyant uplift seems a bit pre-packaged but spot-on nonetheless. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12196-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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SEEN & HEARD
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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