Sweet and reassuring but never saccharine thanks to fine comic touches.
Fearful creatures lose their home, but friendly birds guide them to a safe spot in this picture book translated from the German.
Max and Alexa, two black birds, must return a letter to its sender, and the address is an old ship stuck on top of a mountain. Inside are small, timid, orange creatures called “scaredies.” After a great flood receded, other animals left the boat, but the scaredies stayed behind. Now the craft is breaking up; the letter was to the ship’s captain, asking for help in finding a new, safe place. Maybe the birds could help? Alexa smiles and says, “The safest place in the world is with friends…who…can take care of you.” In an entertaining sequence, the scaredies get a balloon ready for takeoff and all fly off together to the birds’ nest, where they discover that “sweet dreams were already waiting for them.” Winterberg (South Asia Highlights & Impressions, 2017, etc.) effectively builds up suspense about what’s inside the ark, lets his characters express their fears, and provides a comforting solution in terms that young children may appreciate. The story is boosted by Hesse’s (Fifteen Feet of Time, 2016, etc.) illustrations, which vividly portray the characters’ expressions of surprise, fear, determination, encouragement, and, finally, relaxation.
Sweet and reassuring but never saccharine thanks to fine comic touches.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 28
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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
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