Love makes a family, but this may not be the best book to demonstrate this truism.
A duckling wants to be just like his porcine parents when he grows up.
When their anthropomorphic alligator teacher asks them to share “Who do you want to be like when you grow up?” animal children voice admiration for same-species parents. Martin the fawn wants to have antlers so he “can be as handsome as Dad”; little zebra Ema wants her legs to be like her father’s so she “can run around the meadow”; and an elephant calf wants a trunk like his grandpa’s to help him cool down. Johnny the duckling looks worried when the teacher prompts him to respond, and a sequence of double-page spreads reveals the reason for his hesitation: his parents are not ducks but pigs, and he doesn’t have their physical attributes. But he comes up with several ways that he is like his parents, providing credence to the nurture side of the nurture/nature equation in child-rearing. Many will regard this book as a nod to inclusivity of human adoptive families and perhaps particularly transracial ones—but it’s an uneasy metaphor that uses different species to represent different races, and it’s not as though there’s a surfeit of books about human transracial adoption. Closing illustrations of the children’s family portraits reveal a two-daddy lion family and the elephant calf with his grandparents instead of parents.
Love makes a family, but this may not be the best book to demonstrate this truism. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4236-4689-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A syrupy tribute to mothers that may please fans of the series.
Another creature is on the loose.
The long-running series continues its successful formula with this Hallmark card of a book, which features bright illustrations and catchy rhymes. This time, the mythical creature the racially diverse children set out to catch is an absent mom who does it all (lists of descriptors include the words banker, caregiver, nurse, doctor, driver, chef, housekeeper, teacher, entertainer, playmate, laundry service, problem solver, handywoman, cleaner, and alarm clock) but doesn’t seem to have a job outside the home and is inexplicably a dinosaur. As the children prepare gifts and a meal for her, the text becomes an ode to the skills the Mamasaurus possesses (“Day or night she’s always there. / She meets every wish and need”) and values she instills (“Sometimes life can mean hard work,” “kindness matters,” and “what counts is doing your best”). This well-intentioned selection veers into cliche generously sprinkled with saccharine but manages to redeem itself with its appreciation for mothers and all that they may do. Endpapers include a “to” and “from” page framed in a heart, as well as a page where young gift givers or recipients can draw a picture of their Mamasaurus.
A syrupy tribute to mothers that may please fans of the series. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781728274300
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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