A simple but entertaining narrative inspired by stuffed animals.
A picture book follows stuffed toys as they move and play.
Brown offers a story featuring a collection of stuffed animals made by Peruvian artisans. The toys, or Joobles, are extremely active, and the tale narrates their motions (“Joobles! Joobles! Take a walk! Joobles! Joobles! Skip and hop!”). The rather emotive text (Joobles is always accompanied by an exclamation point) does not follow a plot, instead describing the Joobles’ activities (“Pip and Mel romp, and Racky runs. Kitty Katz naps in the sun”). The text rhymes in English. Miranda-McIntosh’s Spanish translation that appears on facing pages is able to retain some rhymes, but in many cases, producing an accurate, word-for-word translation means losing the rhythm of the English words. The brightly colored, cartoonlike illustrations by Balsley capture the essence of the protagonists. The images convey the feeling of constant motion supplied by the text, and the emphasis on color rather than intricate details keeps the pictures from overwhelming readers. This is a picture book that does not tell a traditional tale but engages young readers with a catchy rhythm and pleasing rhymes. The combination of a minimalist text in a recurring pattern and eye-catching illustrations is likely to appeal to very young children who enjoy the reading experience but are not yet able to follow a story. An afterword explains the Joobles’ real-life origin and the nonprofit organization that oversees their creation and distribution, providing necessary context for the straightforward tale.
A simple but entertaining narrative inspired by stuffed animals.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-09-838198-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Fair Indigo
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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