by Nancy Poydar & illustrated by Nancy Poydar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2012
The thin story, lackluster text and the missed opportunity in the illustrations add up to make this one to skip—for tales of...
Written for a slightly younger audience, this lacks the sparkle and story that mark Poydar’s other books.
When young Max finds a toy bus driver on the sidewalk, it immediately becomes his most beloved toy (there is no mention made of trying to track down the former owner). The two go everywhere together, which is a problem since Max can’t seem to keep track of the tiny toy. The preschooler and his mommy seem to be searching for Bus Driver on almost every spread (finding him at the last minute each time), but readers don’t get to do the same. Poydar’s acrylic illustrations rob children of the chance to search for him, although he may be so small so as to preclude that—as it is, he is a speck in most spreads. Readers who pay attention to the copyright page may spot the bus driver bouncing out of a toy bus, grabbed by a young girl after the pair were left by the garbage with a “free” sign attached. In the end, Bus Driver is reunited with his bus, once again “free” and next to the trash can, waiting for the next lucky taker—Max.
The thin story, lackluster text and the missed opportunity in the illustrations add up to make this one to skip—for tales of lost toys, stick with Karen Beaumont and David Catrow’s Where’s My T-R-U-C-K? (2011) or Mo Willems’ Knuffle Bunny books. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2411-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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by Nancy Poydar & illustrated by Nancy Poydar
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by Savannah Guthrie & Allison Oppenheim ; illustrated by Eva Byrne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2017
Skip it
This book wants to be feminist.
Princess Penelope Pineapple, illustrated as a white girl with dark hair and eyes, is the Amelia Bloomer of the Pineapple Kingdom. She has dresses, but she prefers to wear pants as she engages in myriad activities ranging from yoga to gardening, from piloting a plane to hosting a science fair. When it’s time for the Pineapple Ball, she imagines wearing a sparkly pants outfit, but she worries about Grand Lady Busyboots’ disapproval: “ ‘Pants have no place on a lady!’ she’d say. / ‘That’s how it has been, and that’s how it shall stay.’ ” In a moment of seeming dissonance between the text and art, Penny seems to resolve to wear pants, but then she shows up to the ball in a gown. This apparent contradiction is resolved when the family cat, Miss Fussywiggles, falls from the castle into the moat and Princess Penelope saves her—after stripping off her gown to reveal pink, flowered swimming trunks and a matching top. Impressed, Grand Lady Busyboots resolves that princesses can henceforth wear whatever they wish. While seeing a princess as savior rather than damsel in distress may still seem novel, it seems a stretch to cast pants-wearing as a broadly contested contemporary American feminist issue. Guthrie and Oppenheim’s unimaginative, singsong rhyme is matched in subtlety by Byrne’s bright illustrations.
Skip it . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2603-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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by Savannah Guthrie & Allison Oppenheim illustrated by Eva Byrne
by Bob Marley & adapted by Cedella Marley & illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 2011
Though this celebration of community is joyful, there just is not much here.
A sugary poem, very loosely based on the familiar song, lacks focus.
Using only the refrain from the original (“One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel all right!”), the reggae great’s daughter Cedella Marley sees this song as her “happy song” and adapts it for children. However, the adaptation robs it of life. After the opening lines, readers familiar with the original song (or the tourism advertisement for Jamaica) will be humming along only to be stopped by the bland lines that follow: “One love, what the flower gives the bee.” and then “One love, what Mother Earth gives the tree.” Brantley-Newton’s sunny illustrations perfectly reflect the saccharine quality of the text. Starting at the beginning of the day, readers see a little girl first in bed, under a photograph of Bob Marley, the sun streaming into her room, a bird at the window. Each spread is completely redundant—when the text is about family love, the illustration actually shows little hearts floating from her parents to the little girl. An image of a diverse group getting ready to plant a community garden, walking on top of a river accompanies the words “One love, like the river runs to the sea.”
Though this celebration of community is joyful, there just is not much here. (afterword) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0224-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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by Bob Marley ; adapted by Cedella Marley ; illustrated by Alea Marley
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by Bob Marley ; adapted by Cedella Marley ; illustrated by John Jay Cabuay
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by Bob Marley & adapted by Cedella Marley & illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
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