An entrancing, lively book that celebrates words and a child’s imagination.
A captivating use of language to spark children’s interest in words and rhymes shapes this collection of 26 short poems by Howell, a prolific picture-book author whose poetry has frequently appeared in children’s literary magazines.
A jaunty orange squirrel is a “Bulb digger, / nest rigger, / seed stacker, / nut cracker, / tree stalker, / fence walker.” A balloon wants to hear words “that lift and fly, / like float and waft, / or DRIFT and sky.” Ranging in style from couplets and quatrains to free-form poetry and nontraditional haiku, the poems are graphically designed so that certain words are capitalized and set in different colors for eye-catching emphasis. The fanciful, funny, kid-respecting tone of the poems is delightfully matched by respected Canadian illustrator Wray. Among his brightly colored images of Howell’s subjects—the seasons, trees, the wind, animals, insects, and a diverse cast of kids—are “hysterical” hyenas, a clown in a pickle jar, bare feet in summer grass, a tantrum-throwing baby lettuce, a little girl eating cake with a blue dinosaur in a chef’s hat (“Pete, My Dino”), dancing piggies with umbrellas (“Thud and Splash”), swirls of lap-threatening spaghetti, anchovies afloat over a pizza, and rosy-cheeked, sleepy mushrooms wearing “spongy caps / for little shaded buggy naps.” Lap-sitters and early readers are sure to have their favorites. This is a book made for read-aloud (and rereading) fun.
An entrancing, lively book that celebrates words and a child’s imagination. (author bio, illustrator bio)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73509-155-6
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Warren Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A beautiful, powerful reflection on a tragic history.
In spare verse, Lowry reflects on moments in her childhood, including the bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.
When she was a child, Lowry played at Waikiki Beach with her grandmother while her father filmed. In the old home movie, the USS Arizona appears through the mist on the horizon. Looking back at her childhood in Hawaii and then Japan, Lowry reflects on the bombings that began and ended a war and how they affected and connected everyone involved. In Part 1, she shares the lives and actions of sailors at Pearl Harbor. Part 2 is stories of civilians in Hiroshima affected by the bombing. Part 3 presents her own experience as an American in Japan shortly after the war ended. The poems bring the haunting human scale of war to the forefront, like the Christmas cards a sailor sent days before he died or the 4-year-old who was buried with his red tricycle after Hiroshima. All the personal stories—of sailors, civilians, and Lowry herself—are grounding. There is heartbreak and hope, reminding readers to reflect on the past to create a more peaceful future. Lowry uses a variety of poetry styles, identifying some, such as triolet and haiku. Pak’s graphite illustrations are like still shots of history, adding to the emotion and somber feeling. He includes some sailors of color among the mostly white U.S. forces; Lowry is white.
A beautiful, powerful reflection on a tragic history. (author’s note, bibliography) (Memoir/poetry. 10-14)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-12940-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
PROFILES
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems.
Rhyming poems introduce children to anthropomorphized trucks of all sorts, as well as the jobs that they do.
Adorable multiethnic children are the drivers of these 16 trucks—from construction equipment to city trucks, rescue vehicles and a semi—easily standing in for readers, a point made very clear on the final spread. Varying rhyme schemes and poem lengths help keep readers’ attention. For the most part, the rhymes and rhythms work, as in this, from “Cement Mixer”: “No time to wait; / he can’t sit still. / He has to beg your pardon. / For if he dawdles on the way, / his slushy load will harden.” Slonim’s trucks each sport an expressive pair of eyes, but the anthropomorphism stops there, at least in the pictures—Vestergaard sometimes takes it too far, as in “Bulldozer”: “He’s not a bully, either, / although he’s big and tough. / He waits his turn, plays well with friends, / and pushes just enough.” A few trucks’ jobs get short shrift, to mixed effect: “Skid-Steer Loader” focuses on how this truck moves without the typical steering wheel, but “Semi” runs with a royalty analogy and fails to truly impart any knowledge. The acrylic-and-charcoal artwork, set against white backgrounds, keeps the focus on the trucks and the jobs they are doing.
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5078-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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