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CAT CAN SWIM

Name: CAT CAN SWIM
Author: Rebecca Purcell
ISBN: 978-1-80036-004-4

From the Cat's Adventures series

by Rebecca Purcell ; illustrated by Rebecca Purcell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2020

Doesn’t make a big splash, but Cat is cute enough to make it worth diving in.

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Jump in with Cat on an underwater adventure.

Purcell’s Cat, of Cat’s New Hat and Cat Goes Fast (both 2020), is back again, this time ready to take an extensive dip. Seeking relief from the hot sun, Cat dives down to the bottom of the ocean, passing fish, eels, and a shark on the way to meeting a feline mermaid. Once Cat is back ashore it begins to rain, and sidekick Bird, who naturally stays above the waves, brings an umbrella to the chilly Cat. The end is a nice counterpoint to the beginning, as Cat had started the story hot and wanting to get wet, so it ends on the opposite note. Overall, the illustrations are so simple that nuances can be spotted easily. Cat looks so much the same from page to page that little drops of perspiration are all that is needed to show the heat. The story itself isn’t much of a story; it’s mostly just a series of rhymes. That said, the bouncing rhythm does keep up the pace for little listeners. Though Bird takes she/her pronouns, Cat remains ungendered. (It is not clear whether Cat’s avian pal is the same Bird as in Purcell’s Owl and Bird books, but they look an awful lot alike.)

Doesn’t make a big splash, but Cat is cute enough to make it worth diving in. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-80036-004-4

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Tiny Seed

Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE MONSTER READS A BOOK
by Rebecca Purcell

- BOOK REVIEW
COUNTING WITH OWL AND BIRD
by Rebecca Purcell ; illustrated by Rebecca Purcell

- BOOK REVIEW
CAT HAS ONE SHOE
by Rebecca Purcell ; illustrated by Rebecca Purcell

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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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. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

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Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)