by Rachelle Burk ; illustrated by Julie Downing ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2014
A charming, metafictive good night.
This book within a book tells the story of a little hedgehog who resists reading a bedtime story about a little bear—or is it also a story about a little bear who reads a book about a little hedgehog?
The front-cover art shows the hedgehog snuggling with her mother while they read a book that looks like the one readers hold in their hands. The back-cover art shows a pair of bears reading the same book. Within the covers, the story opens with the hedgehog child, Sami, resisting a bedtime story about a bear. Mama is patient but prompts her to choose a book to read later. Sami acquiesces and then asks Mama to read the beginning. The accompanying picture’s perspective allows readers to look over her shoulder to read a verse in the book within the book about a little bear getting ready for bed. At first Sami says, “Don’t turn the page,” but her curiosity gets the better of her. Ensuing pages depict continued reading punctuated by Sami’s own preparations for bedtime as she mimics the little bear putting on pajamas, brushing teeth and reading. The final page delivers a conclusion in which the art shows the bears, not within the hedgehog’s book, but living beside the hedgehogs’ home.
A charming, metafictive good night. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-939547-06-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014
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by Rachelle Burk ; illustrated by Mélanie Florian
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by Rachelle Burk ; illustrated by Claudia Gadotti
by Carin Bramsen & illustrated by Carin Bramsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 2013
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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by Carin Bramsen ; illustrated by Carin Bramsen
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by Carin Bramsen ; illustrated by Carin Bramsen
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by Kirsten Bramsen & illustrated by Carin Bramsen
by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2020
Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back.
Little Nutbrown Hare ventures out into the wide world and comes back with a new companion in this sequel to Guess How Much I Love You (1994).
Big Nutbrown Hare is too busy, so after asking permission, Little Nutbrown Hare scampers off over the rolling meadow to play by himself. After discovering that neither his shadow nor his reflection make satisfactory playmates (“You’re only another me!”), Little Nutbrown comes to Cloudy Mountain…and meets “Someone real!” It’s a white bunny who introduces herself as Tipps. But a wonderful round of digging and building and chasing about reaches an unexpected end with a game of hide-and-seek, because both hares hide! After waiting a long time to be found, Little Nutbrown Hare hops on home in disappointment, wondering whether he’ll ever see Tipps again. As it turns out, it doesn’t take long to find out, since she has followed him. “Now, where on earth did she come from?” wonders Big Nutbrown. “Her name is Tipps,” Little Nutbrown proudly replies, “and she’s my friend.” Jeram’s spacious, pale-toned, naturalistic outdoor scenes create a properly idyllic setting for this cozy development in a tender child-caregiver relationship—which hasn’t lost a bit of its appealing intimacy in the more than 25 years since its first appearance. As in the first, Big Nutbrown Hare is ungendered, facilitating pleasingly flexible readings.
Readers are likely to love it to the moon and back. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1747-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir
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by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram
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by Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Anita Jeram
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