Next book

BUMMER

A cute collection of surface-level vignettes about a little lost sheep who finds love.

A spirited lost sheep lives with several human families in this painterly debut picture book by author/illustrator Huth.

When a tiny lamb is born but cannot find her mother, she looks for another animal to take care of her. Miss Boots finds the lamb, whom she calls Bummer (the term for a lost lamb), among her goats. Unable to rescue the lamb herself, she enlists her neighbor boy Kinder to take the lamb home. There, Bummer finds a family among the chickens, Kinder and his mother until she grows up and discovers a nearby vineyard. A third family takes on the sheep, and while Bummer has trouble fitting in with the older sheep, she’s ready to befriend all the new arrivals. Proud of her wool, Bummer avoids the shearing station, but eventually, she realizes that she’s better off without her heavy wool in the warm weather. More a series of vignettes than a single story, this picture book meanders through Bummer’s experiences without delving into any of them. Bummer doesn’t develop enough as a character to be considered a hero, and the humans are too tangentially present to play that role. The sheep’s lesson in making friends or in not being afraid to be sheared might resonate with young readers, but with such a brief telling, children might instead focus on the painterly illustrations. The detail in the paintings is uneven; some are more abstract, and some are like sketches. Huth is at her best depicting Bummer among other farm animals, and the chickens are particularly convincing. The only diversity among the human characters is age, which may be because the tale is based on a true story. Lap readers may enjoy this quiet book or invent further adventures for Bummer on their own, creating details where the book leaves them out.

A cute collection of surface-level vignettes about a little lost sheep who finds love.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-0-916754-35-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Filsinger & Company, Ltd.

Review Posted Online: June 6, 2014

Next book

CARPENTER'S HELPER

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

Next book

LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0

Page Count: 16

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Close Quickview