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Warm and reassuring, sure to be especially appreciated by families with working parents and apprehensive children.

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AND I THINK ABOUT YOU

Name: AND I THINK ABOUT YOU
Author: Rosanne L. Kurstedt
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0459-0

by Rosanne L. Kurstedt ; illustrated by Ya-Ling Huang ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 2022

Even on the busiest of days, parents find time to think about their children.

An anthropomorphic bear readies their cub for school—making sure the little one eats breakfast and gets dressed and giving the cub a big hug before leaving for work. A page turn offers a glimpse into each bear’s day, complete with onomatopoeic descriptions. The parent looks over their to-do list, sends emails (“Click-i-ty, Clack-a-ty”), and gives a presentation; the cub reads to stuffed friends, paints pictures (“DAB! SWIPE!”), and shares at circle time. The busy days are depicted in split panels that alternate between classic pastel colors and, when the parent stops to think about the cub at various points, soft hues of mint green, warm rose, shadowy purple, aquamarine, or light amber. Moments of humor in which the parent discovers a missing button (“Whoops!”) and makes a mess at lunch (“Chit-chat. Splat!”) demonstrate that grown-ups can make mistakes, too, and keep the story from being too precious. Furthermore, this side-by-side storytelling places equal emphasis on each bear’s day, validating the cub’s play as their work. Young readers anticipating the start of school will benefit from both the introduction to daily events and the reminder that they are in their parents’ thoughts all day long. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Warm and reassuring, sure to be especially appreciated by families with working parents and apprehensive children. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-5253-0459-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts.

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ONE FAMILY

by George Shannon ; illustrated by Blanca Gómez ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2015

A playful counting book also acts as a celebration of family and human diversity.

Shannon’s text is delivered in spare, rhythmic, lilting verse that begins with one and counts up to 10 as it presents different groupings of things and people in individual families, always emphasizing the unitary nature of each combination. “One is six. One line of laundry. One butterfly’s legs. One family.” Gomez’s richly colored pictures clarify and expand on all that the text lists: For “six,” a picture showing six members of a multigenerational family of color includes a line of laundry with six items hanging from it outside of their windows, as well as the painting of a six-legged butterfly that a child in the family is creating. While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. Interracial families are included, as are depictions of men with their arms around each other, and a Sikh man wearing a turban. This inclusive spirit supports the text’s culminating assertion that “One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.”

A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts. (Picture book. 3-6)