The all-animal cast of characters diminishes the effectiveness of this interpretation as an introduction to the story for...
A gray kitten named Mia poses in her glittering pink tutu on the cover of this somewhat confusing retelling of The Nutcracker ballet.
As the story opens, Mia and her family are having Christmas dinner with her visiting grandparents, with Mia dressed in her pink tutu. The grandfather cat presents Mia with a toy nutcracker and begins to tell her the story of the famous ballet. As the grandfather begins the story, the narrative shifts to a performance of The Nutcracker, with Mia now playing the part of Clara, a flamingo, her godfather. All the roles in The Nutcracker are played by different animals, and it is a little puzzling visually to see a giraffe and a pig peeking out from inside the mouse costumes. The ballet unfolds in traditional fashion, with Mia/Clara dancing with her feline prince and Mia’s sister dancing the part of the Sugarplum Fairy. The ballet sequence ends when Mia returns to her own bed with her new nutcracker toy keeping watch from her windowsill. The illustrations are greeting-card pretty, with lots of pink and purple and swirling snowflakes.
The all-animal cast of characters diminishes the effectiveness of this interpretation as an introduction to the story for younger children. There are many appealing retellings of the ballet in print; The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers (2007) remains the gold standard. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-223830-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.
It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.
In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5378-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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IN THE NEWS
Like its subject: full of bustling life yet peaceful.
Life buzzes in a community garden.
Surrounded by apartment buildings, this city garden gets plenty of human attention, but the book’s stars are the plants and insects. The opening spread shows a black child in a striped shirt sitting in a top-story window; the nearby trees and garden below reveal the beginnings of greenery that signal springtime. From that high-up view, the garden looks quiet—but it’s not. “Sleepy slugs / and garden snails / leave behind their silver trails. / Frantic teams of busy ants / scramble up the stems of plants”; and “In the earth / a single seed / sits beside a millipede. / Worms and termites / dig and toil / moving through the garden soil.” Sicuro zooms in too, showing a robin taller than a half-page; later, close-ups foreground flowers, leaves, and bugs while people (children and adults, a multiracial group) are crucial but secondary, sometimes visible only as feet. Watercolor illustrations with ink and charcoal highlights create a soft, warm, horticulturally damp environment. Scale and perspective are more stylized than literal. McCanna’s superb scansion never misses, incorporating lists of insects and plants (“Lacewings, gnats, / mosquitos, spiders, / dragonflies, and water striders / live among the cattail reeds, / lily pads, and waterweeds”) with description (“Sunlight warms the morning air. / Dewdrops shimmer / here and there”). Readers see more than gardeners do, such as rabbits stealing carrots and lettuce from garden boxes.
Like its subject: full of bustling life yet peaceful. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1797-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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