A loving but unsuccessful portrait.
A grandfather and his grandson become b’nai mitzvah together.
This picture book opens with an old man who has “only one regret.” An 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, he and his entire Polish village were sent to a concentration camp during World War II, where he was too busy fighting for survival to “begin the traditional yearlong training for his bar mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony that celebrates a boy becoming a man when he is thirteen.” The first few pages briefly describe that history as the soft illustrations show the old man getting into a car with his family and driving toward a warmly lit synagogue. The text explains the deep bond between grandfather and grandson and that the boy’s father “suggested that his father and his son be bar mitzvahed together.” Age and youth study together, learn together, and celebrate together, “combining remembrance of the past and the unfolding of the future, recognition of the unbroken chain.” While clearly heartfelt and sweet, this story does not work as a picture book or read-aloud. Bogged down by lengthy, complicated sentences, no readily discernible underlying structure, and a flat plot, the story is neither entertaining nor particularly educational and is likely to confuse young audiences, who are several years from their own bar or bat mitzvahs.
A loving but unsuccessful portrait. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8075-0570-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Ready to fight boredom in a single bound, at least for a few minutes.
A small blond boy describes the many ways his nebbishy dad is a superhero.
From super snoring to super breakfasts (“toast with chocolate, and fruit, ice cream, and cake!”), this dad makes everything fun, playing dinosaurs, lifting and carrying his son, and building him an amazing (but rickety) wooden castle (not without a thumb injury, though, but he meant to do that!). These things might not seem like superhero deeds to most readers, and the narrator sees that question coming. He explains about the noises he hears at night in his room and how his dad comes in to rescue him with the flick of a light switch and his presence. “ ‘Superhero Dad,’ I say, / ‘you are the best by miles!’ / My dad says, / ‘I’m no Superhero,’ / then he stops and smiles. / ‘But I know a Superhero / who is brave and kind and fun. Who is it? // Why, it’s you! You are my SUPERHERO SON!’ ” It’s a sweet concept, but the execution is a little off. Knapman’s rhythm sometimes stumbles in his rhyming verses. Berger’s digital illustrations are filled with the bright colors that scream comics, though there aren’t as many sound effect balloons as one might expect from a superhero story. Both characters are white.
Ready to fight boredom in a single bound, at least for a few minutes. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8657-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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