A treat for those who like their tricks on the scary side.
This collection of shivery Mother Goose rhymes is sure to put kids in the Halloween spirit.
Opening with a spin on “Boys and Girls, Come out to Play,” Kolar sets kids up for the 12 to come: “Come with a whoop and come with a call; / Come with brave hearts or not at all.” All the favorites are here: “Mary Had a Little Ghost,” “Zombie Miss Muffet” (which doesn’t end well for the spider), “Sing a Song of Witches,” “Mary, Mary, Tall and Scary,” “Little Boy Drac.” Kolar’s scansion is spot-on with the originals, making them delicious to read aloud: “Frankenstein had a marvelous mind, / And a marvelous mind had he; / He called for some arms and he called for some eyes / And he called for his thunderbolts three.” Not all are creepy, though: “Twinkle, twinkle, lantern Jack, / Grinning orange against the black, / Crouched beneath the window light / Like a watchman in the night.” “Wee Willie Werewolf” rounds out the collection: “Growling at the window, howling to the skies, / ‘Are the monsters all in bed? The sun’s about to rise!’ ” Garrigue’s appropriately spidery illustrations employ a palette that’s heavy on purple and black, and there are lots of creepy details for observant readers to spy. Of the humans/humanoids who are alive, three have brown skin, and the rest are pale; almost none have discernible chins.
A treat for those who like their tricks on the scary side. (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)Pub Date: July 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58536-392-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
The true meaning of the holiday season shines here.
Kids teach a valuable lesson about community spirit.
A city block is ablaze with red and green lights for Christmas; one house glows blue and white for Hanukkah. This is where Isaac, a Jewish boy, lives, across the street from best friend Teresa, excitedly preparing for Christmas. They love lighting up their homes in holiday colors. After an antisemitic bigot smashes a window in Isaac’s house, Isaac relights the menorah the next night, knowing if his family doesn’t, it means hiding their Jewishness, which doesn’t “feel right.” Artistic Teresa supports Isaac by drawing a menorah, inscribed to her friend, and placing the picture in her window. What occurs subsequently is a remarkable demonstration of community solidarity for Isaac and his family from everyone, including the media. Galvanized into defiant action against hate, thousands of townspeople display menorahs in windows in residences and public buildings. This quiet, uplifting tale is inspired by an incident that occurred in Billings, Montana, in 1993. Readers will feel heartened at children’s power to influence others to stand up for justice and defeat vile prejudice. The colorful illustrations, rendered digitally with brushes of the artist’s devising, resemble scratch art. Isaac and Teresa are White, and there is some racial diversity among the townspeople; one child is depicted in a wheelchair. An author’s note provides information about the actual event.
The true meaning of the holiday season shines here. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64614-087-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A sweet and quiet homage to friendship, nature, and the power of words and poetry.
A little girl enjoys writing poems and gets an unexpected surprise when she writes a poem and gives it to a tree, making “the world more splendid."
Sylvia marks the end of winter with a poem about springtime. After reading it to a squirrel, she ties it to a tree (“hoping that it didn’t count as littering”). When she passes the tree on her way to school the next day, she finds a surprise—another poem on the tree. “She never imagined the tree might write back.” Sylvia continues to write poems to the tree and waits to find the next poem. When she realizes a teasing classmate, Walt, is the author of the other poems, she is sad: “Had the tree she loved so much not given her a thing?” Not too unsurprisingly, the two poets become friends, harmoniously trading rhymes beneath the tree that has brought them together. Using precise, intelligent prose, Reynolds captures moments of a child’s innocence: “ ‘So what’s your name?’ Sylvia asked the tree. But the tree stood in silence. ‘Are you shy like me?’ The tree nodded in the breeze. Sylvia understood.” Maydani’s delicate, pencil-and-watercolor paintings, suffused with spring pastels, affectionately invest Sylvia (who has brown skin), Walt (who presents white), and even the tree with personality.
A sweet and quiet homage to friendship, nature, and the power of words and poetry. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-53912-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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