A cultural holiday is honored and celebrated in this charming counting book.
Explore Día de los Muertos while counting items associated with the festivities.
In another engaging bilingual board-book primer from Lil' Libros, a friendly skeleton presents decorations, treats, and important mementos central to the Mexican holiday of remembrance for the dead. The iconic figure of La Catrina, an elegantly dressed skeleton woman originally created by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada in the early 1900s, is given a cute and colorful makeover that pays homage to the original lithograph while appealing to modern children. The items chosen to illustrate each number from one to 10 range from the spiritual to the culinary and provide a broad, if simplified, overview of the important cultural aspects of Día de los Muertos. Readers can count "three pieces of pan de muerto / tres piezas de pan de muerto" as well as vases of marigolds, family portraits, fruit baskets, and ancestors. Simple text in both English and Spanish introduces new vocabulary and provides an excellent introduction to the time-honored celebration for young readers. A pleasing color palette of deep oranges, purples, and earth tones is fitting for the autumn observance.
A cultural holiday is honored and celebrated in this charming counting book. (Board book. 0-5)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9479-7175-2
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Lil' Libros
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A substantive and affirming addition to any collection.
An impressive array of names, events, and concepts from Black history are introduced in this alphabet book for early-elementary readers.
From A for anthem(“a banner of song / that wraps us in hope, lets us know we belong”) to Z for zenith(“the top of that mountain King said we would reach”), this picture book is a journey through episodes, ideas, and personalities that represent a wide range of Black experiences. Some spreads celebrate readers themselves, like B for beautiful(“I’m talking to you!”); others celebrate accomplishments, such as E for explore(Matthew Henson, Mae Jemison), or experiences, like G for the Great Migration. The rhyming verses are light on the tongue, making the reading smooth and soothing. The brightly colored, folk art–style illustrations offer vibrant scenes of historical and contemporary Black life, with common people and famous people represented in turn. Whether reading straight through and poring over each page or flipping about to look at the refreshing scenes full of brown and black faces, readers will feel pride and admiration for the resilience and achievements of Black people and a call to participate in the “unfinished…American tale.” Endnotes clarify terms and figures, and a resource list includes child-friendly books, websites, museums, and poems.
A substantive and affirming addition to any collection. (Informational picture book. 6-11)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5235-0749-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Lovely illustrations wasted on this misguided project.
The Celebrate the World series spotlights Lunar New Year.
This board book blends expository text and first-person-plural narrative, introducing readers to the holiday. Chau’s distinctive, finely textured watercolor paintings add depth, transitioning smoothly from a grand cityscape to the dining room table, from fantasies of the past to dumplings of the present. The text attempts to provide a broad look at the subject, including other names for the celebration, related cosmology, and historical background, as well as a more-personal discussion of traditions and practices. Yet it’s never clear who the narrator is—while the narrative indicates the existence of some consistent, monolithic group who participates in specific rituals of celebration (“Before the new year celebrations begin, we clean our homes—and ourselves!”), the illustrations depict different people in every image. Indeed, observances of Lunar New Year are as diverse as the people who celebrate it, which neither the text nor the images—all of the people appear to be Asian—fully acknowledges. Also unclear is the book’s intended audience. With large blocks of explication on every spread, it is entirely unappealing for the board-book set, and the format may make it equally unattractive to an older, more appropriate audience. Still, readers may appreciate seeing an important celebration warmly and vibrantly portrayed.
Lovely illustrations wasted on this misguided project. (Board book. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3303-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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