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RED RED RED

Name: RED RED RED
Author: Polly Dunbar
ISBN: 978-1-68464-026-3

by Polly Dunbar ; illustrated by Polly Dunbar ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2020

Help for coping when the cookie crumbles.

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This British import serves up lessons in emotional regulation, with a side of biscuits.

The young protagonist of this picture book has light brown skin, curly dark hair, and a taste for biscuits. (This British term for what Americans call cookies is preserved in the American edition.) Via first-person narration, the child thinks out loud while climbing a stool to reach a cookie jar high on the shelf—until “CRASH! BANG! BUMP!” Mum (who shares the child’s coloring) comes running to provide comfort, but she can’t head off her little one’s ensuing fit. Upset about the fall, the child rages, “My socks are down. My pants are twisted. / I want...I want...I WANT A BISCUIT!” A climactic spread gives the protagonist of Molly Bang’s When Sophie Gets Angry—Really Really Angry (1999) a run for her money. It depicts the child in a full-blown tantrum, spiky red lines emanating forth to dominate the page and bold, block letters filling one half of the spread to evoke furious yelling. Patient Mum intercedes and helps her child count to 10 to calm down while Dunbar’s art, typography, and symbolic scribbly lines combine to depict the child eventually relaxing. A scene of deep breathing precedes the final reward of a biscuit, and then another to stave off any risk of additional tantrums.

Help for coping when the cookie crumbles. (Picture book. 2-5)

Pub Date: March 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68464-026-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kane Miller

Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
MERRY WHATMAS?
by Eoin McLaughlin ; illustrated by Polly Dunbar

- BOOK REVIEW
READY FOR SPAGHETTI
by Michael Rosen ; illustrated by Polly Dunbar

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ROAR
by Eoin McLaughlin ; illustrated by Polly Dunbar

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UMBRELLA

by Taro Yashima ; illustrated by Taro Yashima ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1958

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Momo longed to carry the blue umbrella and wear the bright red rubber boots she had been given on her third birthday. But day after day Indian summer continued. Momo tried to tell mother she needed to carry the umbrella to nursery school because the sunshine bothered her eyes. But Mother didn't let her use the umbrella then or when she said the wind bothered her. At last, though, rain fell on the city pavements and Momo carried her umbrella and wore her red boots to school. One feels the urgency of Momo's wish. The pictures are full of the city's moods and the child's joy in a rainy day.

Pub Date: March 1, 1958

ISBN: 978-0-14-050240-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1958

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

THE THREE LITTLE SUPERPIGS AND THE GINGERBREAD MAN

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THE THREE LITTLE SUPERPIGS AND THE GINGERBREAD MAN

by Claire Evans ; illustrated by Claire Evans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 2022

Superheroes, and readers, will live happily-ever-after.

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Why have fairy tales lasted so long? Maybe it’s because they change with every teller.

It takes surprisingly little effort to turn the Three Little Pigs into superheroes. The Big Bad Wolf basically started out as a supervillain, with the ability to blow a house down, and the pigs had to perform spectacular feats to outwit him. In this picture book, the wolf, locked in the Happily Never After tower, devises a plot to escape. Using rotten eggs and spicy ginger, he creates the Gingerbread Man, who makes his way to a baking contest where the three pigs and other fairy-tale characters are competing to win the key to the city. The Gingerbread Man grabs the key, and not even superhero pigs are fast enough to catch him, but with their secret weapon—mustard (which one of the pigs also uses to bake cookies)—they save the day. The morals: Evil never triumphs, and mustard cookies are delicious. The book’s charm is in the details. There are splotches of mustard on the cookies featured on the endpapers, and a sly-looking mouse is hiding on many of the pages. The story even manages to include more than a dozen fairy-tale figures without seeming frenzied. Evans’ use of shading is so skillful that it almost seems possible to reach out and touch the characters. Most of the human characters are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Superheroes, and readers, will live happily-ever-after. (Picture book. 3-5)