Useful information and important insight delivered in mediocre verse and via gender stereotype
A bossypants bee learns a lesson about the value of the contributions of others.
Little Spider loves almost everything about her garden home—but the “bizzz, buzzz, boss-boss-boss” of the worker bee as she makes her rounds is, frankly, a buzzkill. Fulfilling the “bossy female” stereotype, Bossy Bee lords it over the rest of the garden creatures, explaining the importance of her job as a pollen collector and distributor to the worm, the ladybug, and the lizard. With keen understanding of the psychology of a narcissist, Little Spider asks Bossy Bee for advice—and then quickly traps her in her web. Unable to move, Bossy Bee can only watch as the worm, the ladybug, and the lizard perform their essential tasks: The worm enriches the soil; the ladybug eats aphids; the lizard eats slugs. Chastened, Bossy Bee declares, “Oh, Spider, I promise to stop being bossy. / I’ve learned a lesson today. / I’ll respect other creatures and value their jobs. / We should work as a team every day!” It’s a valuable lesson even though it’s imparted in earnest doggerel (all the creatures speak in rhyme). Tolland’s painterly illustrations emphasize the lushness of the garden, sometimes at the expense of clarity of composition—with so many bright colors to look at, it’s hard for the eye to focus.
Useful information and important insight delivered in mediocre verse and via gender stereotype . (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-76036-056-6
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A deterministic message detracts from the math.
For 10 flower friends, the grass is always greener…in the sky.
Ten Fantasia-like flowers with adorable faces and leaf arms/hands love being together and basking in the sun, but they also can’t help wanting to break free of their roots and fly when they see the fairies flitting about in the moonlight. One night, “Said the tiny blue one, / ‘Fairy up in the sky, / you see, I’m a flower, / but I want to fly.’ ” While the fairy is puzzled at the flower’s discontent, she grants its wish and transforms it into a butterfly. One by one the others join their mate in the sky as butterflies, each one’s color reflecting its flower origin. At daybreak, though, the new butterflies regret the transformation, and the understanding fairy changes them back again: “But big and tall, / or short and small, / being ourselves / is best of all!” Really? There isn’t even one flower that would really rather fly all the time? Throughout, McKellar emphasizes that there are always 10 in all, though some may be flowers and some butterflies at any given point. The endpapers reinforce ways to make 10 by showing 11 combinations, all in two rows of five, which may confuse children, rather than always keeping butterflies separate from flowers and allowing one row to be longer than the other. The bright colors, butterflies, flowers, and the fairy, who is a dark-skinned pixie with long black hair, seem calibrated to attract girly audiences.
A deterministic message detracts from the math. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-93382-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Delightful and engaging.
Preschoolers can follow a little brown mouse on its traveling adventures in this engaging color concept book.
As the book starts, a little mouse can be seen packing up her equally itty-bitty suitcase. Rhyming text with a wonderful read-aloud rhythm introduces readers to the little mouse’s street: “Red house / Blue house / Green house / Tree house! / See the tiny mouse / in her little brown house?” Clean-lined, colorful illustrations in Gómez’s signature style lead readers along: into a flower-filled garden; on a ride on a red city bus; in a potted windowsill plant attended by a child; on the curb where a group of people wait to cross a street; in an underwater scene with “one gigantic whale!”; and on a jolly ride that employs a string of vehicles. The little mouse is not mentioned again, making it easy for readers to forget it as they get caught up in the myriad delightful details of each illustration. No problem there. The book ends with “and did you spot that mouse?” This should send children back to the beginning, this time in earnest search of the little mouse and her itty-bitty suitcase. Should children need further enticement to read the book again, travel patches on the endpapers invite readers to match them to the relevant part in the story. The people depicted are diverse both racially as well as in physical ability.
Delightful and engaging. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55381-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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