A charming celebration of the sun’s warmth and glow, perfect for sharing and reading aloud.
Seasonal poems, dominated by summer themes, paint pictures of exploring nature and enjoying kid-friendly activities in this picture book from the team of Howell and Povarchik (Shimmer, Songs of Night, 2017).
Beginning with leaves frozen beneath the surface of a pond and the sorceress of spring taking over from winter’s snow fairy, these poems of sunlight and balmy days mix the magical and the ordinary—and sometimes make the ordinary seem magical. Howell’s linguistic twists and turns are a delight for the tongue, especially in poems that praise the “slosh,” “muck,” and “murk” of mud, or a “twirling, rolling, cartwheeling” journey to find polliwogs. The poetry form sometimes changes; though most of the pieces rhyme, haiku and free verse are also featured. The vivid imagery in Howell’s verse is echoed in Povarchik’s watercolor-and-ink images, which feature cartoonish children, animals, and fairies in brightly colored moments of whimsy. Although a variety of settings, including beach, city, and woods, are included, all the human characters have pale skin. To accommodate the illustrations, some poems are presented in smaller fonts, giving them a squished look on the page. That is unlikely to stop poetry lovers in the 6 to 12 age group, who will find plenty of tongue-tangling rhymes and rhythms to relish.
A charming celebration of the sun’s warmth and glow, perfect for sharing and reading aloud.Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-950169-11-5
Page Count: 46
Publisher: Spork
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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