A child becomes frustrated by rambunctious sheep—but misses them when they vanish—in this picture book.
A pale-skinned, short-haired youngster in footie pajamas just can’t sleep with the moon shining so brightly in the bedroom. “To try to sleep / I counted sheep / But they’re a noisy flock of bleat,” the kid complains. And the sheep certainly do cause a lot of trouble, playing games, upsetting the lamp, and diving into the laundry. Eventually, they all nod off, and the child wonders if maybe counting snails would make for a better night’s sleep. The next evening, the snails arrive, and although they paint glistening trails across the bedroom, fantastically depicted in vibrant green in Barrow’s illustrations, they also snore, keeping the child awake. The youngster ends up wishing for the boisterous sheep instead. Readers familiar with Howell’s humorous rhymes and unique worldview from such titles as Glimmer! (2019) are sure to be pleased with this clever tale. The repetition of the rhyming syllables makes this story a perfect read-aloud, especially for lap readers who want to chime in on the rhymes. Barrow’s digital paintings, similar in style to another of his counting misadventures, Down on the Ranch (2019), maximize the nighttime chaos and perfectly capture the child’s growing exasperation.
Readers of this high-energy story who count sheep are in for plenty of giggles.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73371-708-3
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Doodle and Peck Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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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. 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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