Young children preferring a light touch will enjoy this one, others can look elsewhere.
A frog experiences different kinds of weather in this sweetly illustrated board book.
The book starts with a “Wake up, Weather!” Readers find a frog asleep in a hammock of cattail leaves, and the sun is sizzling. As the book progresses the weather evolves. There is rain, fog, snow, clouds, wind, and, finally, when the stars come out, the book ends with a “Goodnight, Weather!” Accompanying the changing weather throughout the book, the frog skips from lily pad to lily pad in rain boots in the rain; climbs a ladder to peek above the fog; ice skates in the swirling snow; floats on a cloud; parallels the whispering wind by whispering to a fellow frog; and, finally, when the weather presumably goes to sleep, so does the frog in the hammock. The true value of the book lies in the richness of the verbs used: “sizzles,” “puddles,” “creeps,” “swirls,” “float,” “whispers,” “shimmer.” The watercolor illustrations have a light, airy, and delicate feel, and the big smile on the frog’s face is a friendly invitation to follow the action. And yet, there is a spark missing to the whole. The pastel-colored, soft-edged illustrations communicate little energy, and the intrusion of snow into what otherwise could be seen as a narrative occurring in one day feels off (if pedagogically excusable).
Young children preferring a light touch will enjoy this one, others can look elsewhere. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56846-286-8
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
The slightly didactic message of tolerance and inclusiveness is made palatable by the gardening analogy, and this book will...
This attractive picture book for the very young from accomplished illustrator and debut author Gillingham explores a thoughtful analogy between gardening and friendship.
The parallels between growing things and making new friends are illustrated with simple instructions, matched with Gillingham’s pastel-shaded woodcut-and-collaged illustrations. Just like seeds and plants, friendships need to be sown, tended and cultivated. “A friend needs water… / warm sunshine… // and space to bloom.” It is a two-way process: “To grow a friend, talk / and listen”; “Good friends stand by each other in rain / or shine.” With friendships, as with flowers, things can go wrong: “Sometimes a friend bugs you.” (Bugs literally buzz around their heads on a page where the friends are wrestling for control of a potted plant.) But “[t]o grow a friend, / chase the bugs away together!” The girl finds a solution to their argument by giving the boy a ride in a wheelbarrow. A subtly diverse selection of kids and adults are portrayed enjoying one another’s company and working together to cultivate their gardens. Children, flowers, birds, trees and seasons are skillfully illustrated using multicolored patterns and shapes that will have considerable visual appeal for preschoolers.
The slightly didactic message of tolerance and inclusiveness is made palatable by the gardening analogy, and this book will encourage young friendships to bloom. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37669-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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