A clever concept book from beginning to end.
Hooray! Jeffers’ Hueys return—not in a story, but in a concept book about opposites.
It opens with two Hueys failing to determine the opposite of “the beginning” but then succeeding in naming those for other words like “up,” “high,” “cold,” and so on. Jeffers deftly exploits interdependence of art and text as illustrations present the opposing concepts with humor and panache. For example, the text reading “And the opposite of high…” is accompanied by a picture of a cat in a tree exclaiming “UH-oh!” while one Huey gazes up in concern, his coffee cup on the ground before him, and another strides toward the tree with a handsaw. The facing page resolves the opposite with the phrase “is low” and shows the felled tree and the cat sitting on a stump licking its paw. “Thanks,” it says—but that’s not all that’s happening on this page: the other Huey now stands bereft while gazing at his smashed coffee cup on the ground under the tree. Such humor punctuates many spreads, but some scenarios are a bit harder to read than others (the happy/sad juxtaposition requires a fair amount of sophistication, for instance). The conclusion, finally naming the opposite of the beginning as “the end,” is crystal clear and funny to boot.
A clever concept book from beginning to end. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-25770-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.
In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.
Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250393975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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