While big brother Franklin waits on the stoop for Grandpa to arrive home for dinner, Jomar engages every passer-by in an exuberant exchange of urban slang. “Off the heazy!” “Get jiggy with it!” “Check out the B-boy!” While the lingo may be as foreign to some readers as it is to Grandpa, the infectious good humor of Jo and his multicultural friends in the ’hood comes across effortlessly. Isadora’s evocation of the child in the modern urban landscape reaches back to Ezra Jack Keats, from Jo’s snub-nosed brown profile to the graffiti on the walls (though Jo’s dreadlocks are a distinctly modern touch). Newsprint and other printed papers share the bright collages with streaky oils, the visual cacophony of line and pattern lending the cityscape enormous energy and appeal. These scenes are set against generous white space, the genial dialogue rendered, appropriately enough, in a many-colored HipHop typeface. The depiction of a little boy so thoroughly at home in his community is a delight to see in these suspicious days of stranger danger: Jo is indeed Peter’s direct—and very welcome—descendant. (Picture book. 2-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-15-205783-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
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This title previously published in the U.K. takes a cozy look at all kinds of kisses.
Walsh’s rhyming text is full of cutesy rhythms: “Kisses on noses, kisses on toes-es. Sudden kisses when you least supposes.” Sometimes the phrasing stumbles: “Who likes to kiss? I do! I do! Even the shy do. Why not try, too?” But toddlers and young preschoolers will probably not mind. They will be too engaged in spotting the lively penguin on each spread and too charmed by Abbot’s winsome illustrations that fittingly extend the wording in the story. Patient dogs queue up for a smooch from a frog prince, cool blue “ ’normous elephants” contrast strikingly with bright red “little tiny ants” and a bewildered monkey endures a smattering of lipstick kisses. Be the kiss small or tall, one to start or end the day, young readers are reminded that “the very best kiss… / is a kiss from you!” Perhaps no big surprise but comforting nonetheless.
Although a bit on the slight side, this offering is infused with a warm, light humor just right for cuddling up with a young tyke or sharing with a gathering for storytime. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2769-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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A playful counting book also acts as a celebration of family and human diversity.
Shannon’s text is delivered in spare, rhythmic, lilting verse that begins with one and counts up to 10 as it presents different groupings of things and people in individual families, always emphasizing the unitary nature of each combination. “One is six. One line of laundry. One butterfly’s legs. One family.” Gomez’s richly colored pictures clarify and expand on all that the text lists: For “six,” a picture showing six members of a multigenerational family of color includes a line of laundry with six items hanging from it outside of their windows, as well as the painting of a six-legged butterfly that a child in the family is creating. While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. Interracial families are included, as are depictions of men with their arms around each other, and a Sikh man wearing a turban. This inclusive spirit supports the text’s culminating assertion that “One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.”
A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-30003-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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