It’s time to get to work having fun.
A brown-skinned child awakens to Mommy’s command to “get to work,” adding, “Your job is called play.” As narrator, Mommy tells this story in second person to the child—“You’d play all day / if I let you”—and talks as if this conversation about work is an oft-repeated ritual between herself and her child. In matter-of-fact text that exudes tenderness, Mommy recounts how her little one plays in the rain, in the sun, and in the snow, in the fall leaves, at the duck pond, and in many other places, indoors and out. Readers might recognize this mother-child pair from Grimes and Zunon’s Bedtime for Sweet Creatures (2020) and Off To See the Sea (2021), making this story feel like a continuation of a larger narrative that offers an insider’s view of one Black family. Zunon’s highly textured collage illustrations emphasize the importance of imagination: The child hosts a tea party with two dolls and a bear, who sit around a table with “yummy invisible cakes”; later, the child also builds “trains and trucks” from various and sundry household objects. In every spread, Zunon’s illustrations highlight this family’s bonds. When Daddy comes home, he plays tic-tac-toe in sock feet with his child on the floor while Mommy finishes napping on the couch after telling Daddy, “Your turn.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A stunning, warm story about the many ways that play sparks joy. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72823-893-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING
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PERSPECTIVES
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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