While it may touch a parent’s heart and be a welcome gift for an expectant mother, look for other titles that better...
Kelly and Allan marry their talents to produce a rather awkward title about growing maternal affection prior to a child’s arrival.
Most young children savor stories about when they were little, but this British import focuses on "your mommy before you met her." She seems surprised at being pregnant; initially she is a “bit scared, / very excited and not quite prepared.” But, the refrain declares, “the bump—like her love—grew and grew.” The mostly pastel illustrations, which appear to be executed in watercolor and ink, portray the future mother as an exuberant, pink-cheeked woman with squiggly yellow-and-orange hair. Readers will chuckle at her attempt to play hide and seek—her bump is quite visible sticking out from behind a tree—her need to buy a “humongous tent to wear” and her cravings for “green ice cream and onion rings.” But the rhyming text is often forced and occasionally strains for scansion: “She hugged it and lugged it all across town. / She never once stopped and put that bump down.” The artwork has appeal for preschoolers, but the concepts seem better suited for older children.
While it may touch a parent’s heart and be a welcome gift for an expectant mother, look for other titles that better celebrate a baby’s entry into the world. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-58925-107-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
Malichansouk Kouanchao is a Laotian-American artist, but once upon a time she was a child living through difficult times. Her life seemed idyllic, portrayed in spring-hued watercolors surrounded by intricately designed borders. The simple text describes the little girl playing in rice paddies, cooking spicy food and attending weddings, where the custom was to tie ceremonial strings around relatives’ wrists to seal familial love. Then the story and the paintings grow darker. The Lao people endured civil war and American bombings, and many faced political persecution, though the text does not explicitly say why or when Mali’s family fled. Lao words are sprinkled throughout the text, almost as a poetic refrain, and these words in Lao script appear in dialogue bubbles in the corresponding double-page spreads. In a unique touch, the Lao numbers appear on each page. This biographical account is presented as a story rather than as a piece of nonfiction, and as such, it's not quite as compelling as it might have been with more specific details. A note from Mali and an essay by Thavisouk Phrasavath at the end help provide some context. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-933693-68-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
In this moderately effective "jump" story, a lad anxiously questions a distracted-looking, green-skinned goblin as he watches it ransack his house: " 'Why have you got such a big fat bum?' 'Squishing things and squashing things . . .' 'Why have you got such a grumbly tum?' 'Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!' ” The arced lines of text are printed in dialogue balloons, and Hess views the domestic destruction from canted or rolling perspectives in which food, garbage, shampoo, and small toys fly as the goblin shambles along in a cloud of spattered paint or ink. At last the interloper winds up in the lad's bedroom: " ‘What have you come for?' 'YOU!' ” But, as lifting the concluding gatefold reveals, the goblin will accept a jelly bean instead. "A Dark, Dark Room" it's not, but read aloud with the proper gusto it should elicit a few belly laughs, as well as a mild climactic jolt, and the art is unusually fascinating. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-56145-214-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
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