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
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
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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