A celebration of Shabbat for the very young.
Can a frolicsome boy carry an egg from the coop to the kitchen?
As the book opens, readers are greeted by a picture of a happy hen with a just-laid egg beneath the word Sunday. Mom, busy in the kitchen that morning, sends Ben to the chicken coop for that egg. Alas, Ben plays ball with the egg, and his cat licks up the mess. Understanding Mom responds: “Oh, Ben, my dear. Oh, son of mine. / You learned a lesson, and that's fine.” Monday comes, and now two hens with two eggs are depicted. Ben sets off; again collecting one, he attempts to balance it on his head. (There is no seeming relation between the number of hens and eggs seen on pages announcing the days and the number of eggs Ben collects.) Alas, it falls, and the cat enjoys it. Mom repeats her mantra. The rest of the week follows, with one more hen and one more egg added to the mix each day. Each time, Mom stays busy in the kitchen, and Ben gets too adventuresome as he runs, skips, and trips with those easily breakable eggs. Finally, Friday arrives and Ben successfully brings home one egg, which Mom uses to brush on her braided challahs to “make them shine.” Both sit down to a festive Shabbat dinner, and on Shabbat they rest. The humorous tale is told in rhyming couplets with lots of verbal repetition; some dialogue is in speech bubbles. Reds and blues are featured in the paneled illustrations. Mom and Ben have pink-tinged round faces with round red cheeks. The hens are colorfully adorned. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.6-by-17.8-inch double-spreads viewed at 28.9% of actual size.)
A celebration of Shabbat for the very young. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5415-9664-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and refreshing reminder that community is all around us.
A testament to the power of mangoes.
Brown-skinned Mia and Mama, who is darker-skinned, have moved into a new house. Mia loved their apartment and misses it but understands that Mama has wanted a house for so long; indeed, having a house has become Mia’s dream, too. It’s a pink two-story building with “five rooms. Eleven windows. And a whole lot of promise.” One of the things that makes this home so special is the mango tree in the yard. Mia is delighted to finally eat a ripe mango, special because it’s from their home. After that, the mangoes just keep coming and coming, and soon there are too many. But Mia quickly has the idea of sharing the fruit with the neighborhood. A full spread depicting racially diverse people eagerly mingling in Mia and Mama’s yard allows readers to see how wonderful it can be to find a new community. Mia decides, “There’s no such thing as too many mangos.” The light and optimistic story and the vibrant artwork complement each other smoothly. Collagelike illustrations in warm tones make inspired use of color, the pink of the new home contrasting well against the green of the lawn. The book will have readers considering what it means to forge new connections. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet and refreshing reminder that community is all around us. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9781534496033
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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