Share this with preschoolers who may enjoy a peek into another culture’s family life or keep at hand for the tired child,...
Newbery Medal–winner MacLachlan (Sarah, Plain and Tall, 1985) sets her gentle picture book–cum-lullaby near Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania.
Her recent Your Moon, My Moon: A Grandmother's Words to a Faraway Child, illustrated by Bryan Collier (2011), travels similar territory—sharing comforting words to a beloved young one. “Lala salama” means “sleep peacefully” in Swahili and serves as a soothing refrain in the rhythmic narrative from mother to baby as the day unfolds. Zunon’s lush, softly textured oil paintings on watercolor paper reflect the warmth of the African setting and emotion-imbued prose. Saturated warm hues dominate in clearly depicting the unfamiliar, whether it be a kanga, a brightly colored cotton cloth often used as a baby sling, or “the bee-eaters” that “twitter their last songs of the day…” Baba (father) plays an active role, laughing with his baby or preparing his wooden boat to join “other boats, / their flour-sack sails / fat with wind.” But then night comes, and the palette deepens into rich blues and inky purples: “Close your eyes, / my / dear / child. / Lala salama.”
Share this with preschoolers who may enjoy a peek into another culture’s family life or keep at hand for the tired child, who will most appreciate this quietly sentimental offering. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4747-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
A powerful affirmation for all dads—the good, the flawed, and those doing the best they can.
Dedicating his latest to “caregivers who give what they never got,” Caldecott Honor winner Robinson explores complicated feelings around fatherhood.
From the outset, the book appears to be a standard-issue Father’s Day offering, pairing brief, loving sentiments with images of animals. But it soon becomes clear that Robinson has crafted something much more complex. A frog with tadpoles nestled atop his back (“Dad is here”) is followed by an illustration of an owl leaving the nest (“Dad had to go away”). More contrasts are presented: a seahorse keeping his offspring safe in his pouch (“Dad holds on tight”), two shark pups swimming away from their frenzied-looking patriarch (“Dad need lots of space”). “Dad lets you down and makes mistakes” (a porcupine accidentally jabs his little one), but “Dad picks you up and makes you feel safe” (a lion snuggles his cub). And the human fathers we meet next—diverse in skin tone and ability—are equally multifaceted. Robinson outdoes himself, his bold and richly textured paint and collage artwork popping against the background. His artwork is rife with subtleties for careful readers—for instance, the look of uncertainty in the eyes of the gorilla father described as “strong.” For all its simplicity, this colorful book is laden with meaning, depicting fathers as vulnerable, imperfect, gentle, and empathetic—in a word, deeply human.
A powerful affirmation for all dads—the good, the flawed, and those doing the best they can. (more information on the animals presented) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9781250397041
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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