A simple lesson in compassion, told in lively, rhyming text with engaging illustrations.
In Lennox’s debut, rhyming picture book, featuring illustrations by Aveira (Mariposa, 2019, etc.), a little boy searches for his lost shoe in the zoo and gets a surprise when he finds it.
“One day in the summer I went to the zoo, / And somehow or other I lost my right shoe!” narrates a young boy. He enlists the aid of zookeepers and they hunt for the footwear in habitats and enclosures, encountering a polar bear, a giraffe, camels, and many more creatures along the way. A helpful kangaroo checks her pouch; the boy even takes a snorkeling dip in the flamingo pond to look. Aveira’s semirealistic, full-color, full-page digital images feature lavish greenery, big-eyed, friendly animals, and relatable human characters (the boy and most other characters are white; a zookeeper and a few bystanders have brown skin). Children will have fun spotting what the boy doesn’t—including his upside-down shoe in the background. What the kindhearted boy discovers when he finally finds it is a sweetly comic revelation, and another surprise is still to come. The book is labeled “A Zoo Adventure for Ages 3 to 7,” which suggests that there may be a welcome series of adventures ahead.
A simple lesson in compassion, told in lively, rhyming text with engaging illustrations.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-73339-950-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Jumping Juniper Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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