It’s not easy to make the moral case for always telling the truth without sounding preachy, but this monster book does it by...
A personified lie that grows bigger with each fib anchors the story of an ugly sweater, some bad decisions, and the restorative power of fessing up.
Percy isn’t too thrilled with his new handmade sweater from Grandma, done in a garish set of colors that make him frown mightily. The moment Percy and his brother, both white boys, get outside to walk the dog, the sweater ends up on the pooch and is destroyed. When Percy comes home, he lies and says he lost the sweater. When Percy goes to his room, his lie has become a little blue creature. “You told a big, hairy, monstrous lie,” it tells him. “It was a whopper. I am your Whopper!” Predictably, the Whopper grows and begins to dominate Percy’s life as the lies continue. Somewhat less predictably, the Whopper gobbles up Percy and takes his place. It’s only when, from inside the Whopper, Percy confesses the truth that the Whopper fades away. Ashdown’s deceptively simple drawings on closer look reveal lovely detail around the edges. She has a knack for drawing adorable pets readers might like to adopt right off the page. The Whopper itself, though less lovable, makes a big impression while not overstaying his disruptive turn in the story.
It’s not easy to make the moral case for always telling the truth without sounding preachy, but this monster book does it by simply sticking to the story and keeping it fun. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9291-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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