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ALL ABOARD THE LONDON BUS

Name: ALL ABOARD THE LONDON BUS
Author: Patty Toht
ISBN: 978-1-84780-857-8

by Patty Toht ; illustrated by Sam Usher ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2017

A fun if slightly predictable introduction to the famous city.

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A white family of four takes a tourist trip around London.

All the famous sights are visited on the big red double-decker bus: the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, the River Thames, Trafalgar Square, Speaker’s Corner, the Underground, Piccadilly Circus, the British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern, the Globe theater, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. Each spread consists of attractive pen-and-watercolor illustrations of the places visited on the tour, with verse, mostly rhyming couplets, in styles well-suited to each attraction. The spread about the Thames shows a bird’s-eye view of the city with evocative text twisting and winding along the contours of the famous river. A similarly lofty view of Trafalgar Square incorporates a “seek and find” feature encouraging readers to look for 10 pigeons, 9 ladies, 8 performers, and so on. The views of the various features of the city are varied and interesting, and multiracial crowds are depicted in several of the images. A detailed compendium of facts about the buildings and features depicted is included at the end.

A fun if slightly predictable introduction to the famous city. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: May 31, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-84780-857-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Frances Lincoln

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

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ZILOT & OTHER IMPORTANT RHYMES

by Bob Odenkirk ; illustrated by Erin Odenkirk ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2023

A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots.

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Poems on various topics by the actor/screenwriter and his kids.

In collaboration with his now-grown children—particularly daughter Erin, who adds gently humorous vignettes and spot art to each entry—Bob Odenkirk, best known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, dishes up a poetic hodgepodge that is notably loose jointed in the meter and rhyme departments. The story also too often veers from child-friendly subjects (bedtime-delaying tactics, sympathy for a dog with the zoomies) to writerly whines (“The be-all and end-all of perfection in scribbling, / no matter and no mind to any critical quibbling”). Some of the less-than-compelling lines describe how a “plane ride is an irony / with a strange and wondrous duplicity.” A few gems are buried in the bunch, however, like the comforting words offered to a bedroom monster and a frightened invisible friend, not to mention an invitation from little Willy Whimble, who lives in a tuna can but has a heart as “big as can be. / Come inside, / stay for dinner. / I’ll roast us a pea!” They’re hard to find, though. Notwithstanding nods to Calef Brown, Shel Silverstein, and other gifted wordsmiths in the acknowledgments, the wordplay in general is as artificial as much of the writing: “I scratched, then I scrutched / and skrappled away, / scritching my itch with great / pan-a-ché…” Human figures are light-skinned throughout.

A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots. (Poetry. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023

ISBN: 9780316438506

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

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WHAT YOU NEED TO BE WARM

by Neil Gaiman ; illustrated by Various ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 31, 2023

No substitute for blankets or shelter, but perhaps a way of securing some warmth for those in need.

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Gaiman’s free-verse meditation on coming in from, or at least temporarily fending off, the cold is accompanied by artwork from 13 illustrators.

An ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the author put out a social media appeal in 2019 asking people about their memories of warmth; the result is this picture book, whose proceeds will go to the UNHCR. For many refugees and other displaced persons, Gaiman writes, “food and friends, / home, a bed, even a blanket, / become just memories.” Here he gathers images that signify warmth, from waking in a bed “burrowed beneath blankets / and comforters” to simply holding a baked potato or being offered a scarf. Using palettes limited to black and the warm orange in which most of the text is printed, an international slate of illustrators give these images visual form, and 12 of the 13 add comments about their intentions or responses. The war in Ukraine is on the minds of Pam Smy and Bagram Ibatoulline, while Majid Adin recalls his time as a refugee in France’s “Calais jungle” camp. “You have the right to be here,” the poet concludes, which may give some comfort to those facing the cold winds of public opinion in too many of the places where refugees fetch up. The characters depicted are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

No substitute for blankets or shelter, but perhaps a way of securing some warmth for those in need. (Picture book. 6-9)