Not for everyone.
A little girl experiences big feelings on her birthday.
The protagonist’s gender is implied by her dress and her bobbed hairstyle, and the first-person text immediately immerses readers in her negativity: “It’s my birthday. So boo! I hate all of you.” A scowling, up-close portrait of the pink-faced, dark-haired girl depicts her wearing a party hat and sticking her tongue out at the reader while clutching a stuffed toy. She’s yelling on the next spread in the middle of a crowd of people, who all have the same pink skin. It’s her party, and she’ll yell if she wants to, is the gist of the story from this point until the last few pages. Throughout, everyone else is remarkably patient and unbothered by her bad behavior, and the text eschews verbal responses or omniscient narration. Expressive, gestural illustrations adopt a low visual perspective to emulate a child’s point of view and end up stealing the show. But even their success can’t smooth over the narrative gap when, on a pair of facing pages, the girl suddenly and resolutely changes her tune. “Go away!” she shouts on the verso; “No! Stay! Can you stay even if I hate you?” she says on the recto, reducing the book to spectacle rather than story. While perhaps true to life, this lightning-fast shift is unsatisfying, as it asks readers to accept her change of heart as passively as the long-suffering partygoers accepted her hatred.
Not for everyone. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-57687-874-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: POW!
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
A testament to the universality of love.
An expanded explanation of love in both English and Spanish.
Several animal personalities pose the question, “What is love?” and in a series of lift-the-flap responses present various emotional scenarios. Little Elephant asks Spider, “Is it the joy of having you around?” Spider asks, “Is it the way you lift me when I’m down?” Each page corresponds to a flap that reveals one of a multitude of feelings love can evoke in either an English or Spanish rhyme, which are not direct translations of each other. An interspersed refrain notes, “Amor for the Spanish, / and love en inglés. / Love in any language / always means the same.” A palette of pastels and purple and pink hues dominate as hearts abound on each page, surrounding the characters, who are adorable though on the overly sweet side. The characters are from the bilingual preschool series Canticos, though it will work even among those without knowledge of the show. Children more fluent in Spanish will be better able to appreciate this, and those familiar with the show will recognize the signature characters, including “Los Pollitos” (Little Chickies). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A testament to the universality of love. (Board book. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-945635-72-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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