Cordell’s starry cityscapes combine with Jennings’ gentle text for an agreeable read-aloud—with a cherry on top.
A sweet friendship story hums with jazz and is heaped with ice cream.
Bat and Rat have a lot going on. Denizens of the uptown Hotel Midnight, Bat lives on the 33rd floor and Rat in the basement. Bat composes and plays piano in their jazz duo, while Rat writes the lyrics and sings. She’s stymied with the words for their new tune, so the pair meets for ice cream. Cordell’s amusing watercolors depict a William Steig–esque menagerie at the ice cream parlor. A frog’s long tongue licks a cone held at arm’s length, and a weasel-like worker labors mightily on Bat’s towering, seven-scoop treat. Jennings’ often-charming dialogue reveals the two friends’ characteristics: “Rat, can you hold my cone so I can fly up and lick my top scoop?” Alas, a skateboarding hare and zooming bus topple and flatten six of Bat’s scoops. Amid the flare of emotion over the spill (Bat chastises Rat, then apologizes), Rat finds the creative key to the song’s lyrics: She has many favorite things, but her “favorite favorite is Bat.” Concluding spreads depicting enthusiastic fans of many species at the hotel’s rooftop Twelve O’Clock Room and retrospective scenes of the friends' good times are paired with the little song’s affirming lyrics.
Cordell’s starry cityscapes combine with Jennings’ gentle text for an agreeable read-aloud—with a cherry on top. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0160-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
A touching story of familial love and of respect and gratitude for the bounty of the land.
A magical intergenerational story of gifts and cultural rituals shared between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
A Tlingit grandmother takes her young granddaughter to a nearby island for a berry-picking adventure in the forest. To alert the forest bear and the various types of berries that glow “like little jewels” of their presence, the pair sing a harvest song: “Salmonberry, Cloudberry, Blueberry, Nagoonberry. Huckleberry, Soapberry, Strawberry, Crowberry.” Grandma teaches the girl that “we speak to the land…as the land speaks to us,” and “we sing too, so the land knows we are grateful.” As they gather berries in the misty rain, they listen to the sounds of insect wings, inhale the sweet scent of cedar, and feel the soft moss on tree branches. Back at home, “the kitchen glows like a summer sky” as the girl, her grandmother, her father, and her younger sister make syrup, marmalade, jelly, jam, pie, and scones to share. When winter comes, the forest is described as “dreaming, waiting for berry song.” Seasons change, marking the passage of time and leading to a bittersweet, full-circle ending. This beautifully written story by Caldecott medalist/debut author Goade features breathtaking, atmospheric artwork inspired by the wild landscape of her hometown, Sheet’ká, Alaska, and incorporates rich symbolism and imagery from Tlingit culture. A closing author’s note elucidates sacred Tlingit principles mentioned in the story, and dazzling endpapers identify different berry varieties. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A touching story of familial love and of respect and gratitude for the bounty of the land. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-49417-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up.
In Murray’s children’s debut, when a gingerbread man made by schoolchildren gets left behind at recess, he decides he has to find his class: “I’ll run and I’ll run, / As fast as I can. / I can catch them! I’m their / Gingerbread Man!”
And so begins his rollicking rhyming adventure as he runs, limps, slides and skips his way through the school, guided on his way by the friendly teachers he meets. Flattened by a volleyball near the gym, he gets his broken toe fixed by the kindly nurse and then slides down the railing into the art teacher’s lunch. Then it’s off to the principal’s office, where he takes a spin in her chair before she arrives. “The children you mentioned just left you to cool. / They’re hanging these posters of you through the school.” The principal takes him back to the classroom, where the children all welcome him back. The book’s comic-book layout suits the elementary-school tour that this is, while Lowery’s cartoon artwork fits the folktale theme. Created with pencil, screen printing and digital color, the simple illustrations give preschoolers a taste of what school will be like. While the Gingerbread Man is wonderfully expressive, though, the rather cookie-cutter teachers could use a little more life.
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25052-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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