When Rooster boasts that he makes the sun rise every morning, Bluebird tells him he's wrong: ``The dawn chorus of birds does. I sing with them, so I should know.'' This ruffles Rooster's feathers so badly that he boasts that he can make the sun rise at midnight. The challenge is accepted, and in the middle of the night, a crowd gathers to listen to Rooster crow the sun up. His last mighty ``Cockle-doodle-doo'' calls forth a shooting star that lights up the whole sky, scaring Bluebird and Rooster into wishing they hadn't taken things quite so far. When the sun rises the next morning, Rooster, Bluebird, and the dawn chorus crow and sing it up together. As in her earlier books (Solo Plus One, 1992; Three Bags Full, 1993), Scamell's text is loosely based on a moral: Beware of boasting. But she doesn't hit you over the head with it, and her story moves along crisply. Riches's illustrations are beautiful and a little strange, which is effective here—especially when the shooting star appears, frightening all who see it. An imaginative book with strong characters that are ideal for dramatic play. (Fiction/Picture book. 3+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-13290-1
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
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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