by Naseem Hrab illustrated by Josh Holinaty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2018
Being sad has never seemed funnier.
Two irreverent friends navigate the cutthroat world of playground politics in this hilarious picture book about feeling sad.
Ira Crumb, a brown-skinned boy, and Malcolm Cake, a blue dog, are back with humor, friendship, and a shared love of pickles (Ira Crumb Makes a Pretty Good Friend, 2017). On a trip to the playground, the two double over with laughter as they tell a knock-knock joke, but the fun takes a turn when Ira wants to play hide-and-seek but Malcolm wants to play tag. When all their new playground chums prefer Malcolm’s game, Ira finds that his “feelings are feeling feelings.” Ira even passes up a joyful dance-a-thon as he delves deeper into the abyss of his emotions. The dance-a-thon participants try to cheer Ira up, and even his surroundings try to lighten his mood, but Ira does not want to be distracted from his grief. When Malcolm sees how sad Ira is, he has a novel idea…why don’t they be sad together! This brings Ira right out of his funk, and the two bond over fart jokes. This beckons the offense of an actual fart, depicted as a green cloud adorned with a top hat and single spectacle. Nothing can bring two friends together like a classy fart joke! The illustrations are bright and colorful, and the playful use of speech bubbles adds motion and zeal.
Being sad has never seemed funnier. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77147-298-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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by Naseem Hrab ; illustrated by Kelly Collier
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by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Mike Boldt
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by Alexandra Penfold ; illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 2, 2021
The story’s slight but allows kids to practice identifying and dealing with their own big feelings.
The diverse group of kids from All Are Welcome (2018) this time gathers in a vacant lot with tools in hand to clear the debris and make something new. But therein lies the rub: What should the something new be? While the exact nature of the disagreement is unfortunately not made clear to readers, the big feelings that the children exhibit are very clear (and for readers who need practice reading facial clues, there’s a labeled chart of 15 in the frontmatter). This book’s refrain is “How can I help? / What can we do?” And the answers, spread over several pages and not spelled out in so many words but rather shown in the illustrations, are: talk it through, compromise, and see things from another perspective. As a guide for dealing with feelings and problem-solving, the book is a bit slim and lacks a solid story to hook readers. But, as with its predecessor, its strength is again the diversity on display in its pages. There’s a rainbow of skin tones and hair colors as well as abundant variation in hair texture, several children exhibit visible disabilities, including one child who uses a wheelchair, and there are markers of religious and cultural diversity. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.6% of actual size.)
The story’s slight but allows kids to practice identifying and dealing with their own big feelings. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-57974-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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by Alexandra Penfold ; illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman
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