Design, engineering, and art intersect to deliver a virtuoso interpretation of the pitfalls and pleasures of triads.
While Idle’s previous titles (Flora and the Flamingo, 2013, etc.) feature her young, white dancer with a single avian partner, this story presents a pas de trois.
The challenge, therefore, is how to manage balance: on the stage, across a double-page spread, among friends. The choreography creates the narrative in this wordless performance, with opportunities for audience participation via flaps. In the opening scene, a fan-wielding Flora poses alone; the peacocks are paired. Wispy willow branches form a proscenium arch atop the extravagant white backdrop. The dancers are arrayed in coordinated teal and green splendor with yellow highlights. When one bird crosses the gutter, a dance ensues on the verso, a drama on the recto. The birds’ parallel symmetry is now inverted: the partners reach up, the lone peacock disdainfully displays downward. As Flora plants a foot on each page, readers decide whether to make tails match or contrast. They are also the agents for a tug of war over the fan. Idle’s nuanced postures and expressions capture the peacocks’ wounded pride perfectly. When the fragile prop breaks in a climactic close-up, the despondent protagonist stalks off the page. The birds find a solution, and a glorious gatefold, measuring 18 by 33 inches, puts a joyful Flora at the center of a dazzling and harmonious display.
Design, engineering, and art intersect to deliver a virtuoso interpretation of the pitfalls and pleasures of triads. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-3816-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
This catch is fumbled.
Having attempted to catch the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Gingerbread Man, a group of kids set their sights on a groundhog.
After two score and counting How To Catch books, this latest addition suggests that there’s nothing left to capture. The verses are feeble (“But I’m chilled to my bones deep inside / I feel the wind across my backside”), while the illustrations are mundane. On one page, a child crouches in a drift eating “stick cheese” (apparently because it rhymes with “trees”). Another catches a football thrown by a friend but falls across a stone slab, breaking it in two. Far below, the anthropomorphic groundhog’s breakfast is disturbed; his cup, saucer, creamer, and sugar bowl are jostled. “Tomorrow is his big holiday,” the children note. “Will a shadow fall outside the den? / We need him to answer this riddle: / we know winter ends but not when.” Ultimately, though the intrepid hunters set a series of traps, they’re disappointed to catch only a rabbit. The groundhog, it turns out, is hibernating in an elaborate wrought iron bed. On the very next page, the mayor holds up the beast. How was he caught, then? We don’t know. What was his verdict on winter’s duration? We don’t know. Will the series ever stop? We can only hope. Human characters are diverse.
This catch is fumbled. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781728293035
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise.
A hoppy, snappy Easter version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Three young tots, with varied skin tones and baskets ready in their hands, eagerly scamper on a spring day to find some eggs. But of course, they meet hindrances along the way. “Ooh, look … // Chickens! / Flapping, pecking chickens.” Thus starts the rolling refrain: “Can’t go over them. / Can’t go under them. / Can’t go around them. // Got to go through them!” The waddling chickens don’t pose much of an obstacle, but they do “Cluck-cluck!” loudly as they scatter in the sun. The three youngsters then must face “fluffy, hungry bunnies” (adorable long-eared puffballs with carrot fronds in their mouths) and “happy, hopping frogs” as they balance on stones to cross a pond. All of this leads to a garden bursting with colorful flowers (“Rustle-swish! / Rustle-swish!”) and finally…10 eggs in pastel patterns. Each egg has a number on it to encourage readers to count along and strengthen their numeracy skills. Rozelaar’s plump and rounded world, with roly-poly trees, flowers, and hills, wraps the tale in coziness.
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798887771304
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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