Despite the forced plot, this is likely to bring a smile or three.
Misfit wolf meets mischievous lass in a red cape: Is she friend or foe?
Sweet Little Wolf loves flowers and fairy tales, and she doesn't want to grow up to be big and bad, to the great dismay of her parents. To nudge her back onto the correct path, they send her out to get dinner with a shopping list that includes "one little girl (tender and juicy)." She does want to please her parents, and serendipitously, who should skip by but Red Riding Hood, reading a fairy tale aloud. Sweet Little Wolf is enraptured, then angry at herself, then enraptured again. She creeps into Grandma's cottage and tries to put on a scary face. But Grandma (who fortunately is not home) has such beautiful clothes that Sweet Little Wolf can't resist getting into a sparkly pink robe and dusting herself with powder. When Red Riding Hood arrives, Sweet Little Wolf doesn't attack her but hides under the covers. The two become friends and eat cookies together. Red Riding Hood writes a lovely letter to Sweet Little Wolf's parents. Anxious about her daylong absence, Mrs. Wolf does an about-face that evening and tells Sweet Little Wolf that she loves her just the way she is. Pichon's bright illustrations are a great match for Mortimer's sunny story, told with charm and no skimping on text.
Despite the forced plot, this is likely to bring a smile or three. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-117-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
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
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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