Imbued with understanding and overt silliness; a quietly chucklesome affirmation of introverts.
A reticent bear finds noisy social gatherings, well, "un-bear-able."
A swinging party is underway at Tiny the bunny’s house, but where is Tiny's ursine friend Bina? Is she that strangely large lamp with the shade on its head? Is she the lumpy table with ears and a tail? Is she the tree with the suspiciously bearlike trunk? The bear-shaped chair? The bookcase “bear-ing” the weight of all those books? What begins as a fun and risibly easy seek-and-find morphs into something more when Tiny sees beyond one of Bina’s less-convincing disguises (“I am not Bina. I am…groceries”) and asks her what’s wrong. Bina confesses that she does not like parties, but she does very much like Tiny. Moved, the bunny puts a little lampshade over its head—another humorously implausible camouflage—and the two friends dance together. Anyone who has ever eschewed the cacophony of raucous social events for a darkened bedroom will instantly relate to the bear’s emotional honesty. Curato’s simple ink, colored pencil, and watercolor illustrations help bring a gentle pathos to Bina’s predicament. Even the most outgoing child will learn to empathize with those that don’t have fun in crowds. Tiny’s gender is unspecified.
Imbued with understanding and overt silliness; a quietly chucklesome affirmation of introverts. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-76220-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
A nursery charmer.
A pink-cheeked version of a song most everyone knows, with new verses highlighting cozy animal dyads across the world.
The bright yellow and red owlet with its parent opens the lullaby with the verse we all know. Next a papa deer and fawn in the forest, a whale and calf in the sea, a kangaroo and joey in the outback, vulture and chick and so on, each filling a two-page spread. The verse mirrors the pictures: “Glisten, glisten, little star, / how I wonder what you are. / Up above the grassy plain …” shows a papa lion and cub, and on the next spread—“…through the warm, wet jungle rain”—a pair of rosy-cheeked monkeys. The five-pointed, butter-gold star is prominently visible on every spread. Color and line are thick and bold, while all of the animals, from polar bears to pussy cats, have button eyes and the suggestion of human smiles. The final verse (“Twinkle over towns and trees, / fields and farms, / Lakes and seas”) shows just such a vista, with lollipop trees, a building-block city and a little red lighthouse. The concluding spread, “Twinkle, twinkle, up above … // … for me and for / the one I love” pictures that bright star on one page facing a golden-haired mother and child. The music for this venerable tune is on the back endpaper.
A nursery charmer. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2519-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
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