A stormy clash between parent and child ends with sunshine and bird song.
A 5-year-old “all filled up with feelings” dreams of wings and walruses in this ruminative import.
Joseph dislikes being repeatedly dubbed “Gremlin” for supposed misbehavior (he’d much rather be a glorious griffin), and after one too many parental scoldings, he demands another mother. His mom’s sharp offer of a “walrus mommy” who “lives on the banks of the North Pole” sends him scooting outdoors in mingled anger and repentance to sulk beneath a favorite tree. Soon he’s in an icy clime, riding around on a friendly walrus’s back…until he remembers that he’s neither a gremlin nor a griffin but a boy and races happily back into the house. Joseph’s mother comes off here as particularly temperamental and unsympathetic, but she does allow herself to be pulled outside to see, if not walruses, a nest of bright goldfinches in the tree. Blending multiple layers of crayon and colored pencil, Godbout models idyllic settings of rounded forms and soft surfaces, most of which are seen from Joseph’s low point of view as he stumps about in yellow boots. His changing moods are signaled by expressive eyebrows on an oversized, apple-cheeked face. He is an articulate narrator, but occasional wordless spreads and sequences illuminate the thoughts and experiences he maps in his monologue.
A stormy clash between parent and child ends with sunshine and bird song. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59270-117-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily.
A group of young “dinosauruses” go out into the world on their own.
A fuchsia little Hugasaurus and her Pappysaur (both of whom resemble Triceratops) have never been apart before, but Hugasaurus happily heads off with lunchbox in hand and “wonder in her heart” to make new friends. The story has a first-day-of-school feeling, but Hugasaurus doesn’t end up in a formal school environment; rather, she finds herself on a playground with other little prehistoric creatures, though no teacher or adult seems to be around. At first, the new friends laugh and play. But Hugasaurus’ pals begin to squabble, and play comes to a halt. As she wonders what to do, a fuzzy platypus playmate asks some wise questions (“What…would your Pappy say to do? / What makes YOU feel better?”), and Hugasaurus decides to give everyone a hug—though she remembers to ask permission first. Slowly, good humor is restored and play begins anew with promises to be slow to anger and, in general, to help create a kinder world. Short rhyming verses occasionally use near rhyme but also include fun pairs like ripples and double-triples. Featuring cozy illustrations of brightly colored creatures, the tale sends a strong message about appropriate and inappropriate ways to resolve conflict, the final pages restating the lesson plainly in a refrain that could become a classroom motto. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-82869-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the...
In this deceptively spare, very beginning reader, a girl assembles a robot and then treats it like a slave until it goes on strike.
Having put the robot together from a jumble of loose parts, the budding engineer issues an increasingly peremptory series of rhymed orders— “Throw, Bot. / Row, Bot”—that turn from playful activities like chasing bubbles in the yard to tasks like hoeing the garden, mowing the lawn and towing her around in a wagon. Jung crafts a robot with riveted edges, big googly eyes and a smile that turns down in stages to a scowl as the work is piled on. At last, the exhausted robot plops itself down, then in response to its tormentor’s angry “Don’t say no, Bot!” stomps off in a huff. In one to four spacious, sequential panels per spread, Jung develops both the plotline and the emotional conflict using smoothly modeled cartoon figures against monochromatic or minimally detailed backgrounds. The child’s commands, confined in small dialogue balloons, are rhymed until her repentant “Come on home, Bot” breaks the pattern but leads to a more equitable division of labor at the end.
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the rest. (Easy reader. 4-6)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87083-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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