Buzz-worthy.
Two bees show a frog that friendship is as sweet as honey.
In the first of three short chapters, Bumble (a bumblebee) and Bee (a honeybee) are absolutely thrilled it’s “Best Friends Picture Day.” But Froggy wishes they were somewhere else. Not even counting to three and saying “BEES!” elicits a smile as big as Bumble’s or Bee’s. Froggy just frowns. The insects devise a brilliant plan to turn Froggy’s frown upside down—literally. In the next chapter, Bumble and Bee show their compassionate sides and scare Froggy out of a bad case of the hiccups. The final chapter sees the bees showing off their “Waggle Dance” (an actual communication method among honeybees) while trying to get Froggy to follow along. With their quick pace and comic-book layout, the chapters function like miniature cartoon episodes. Burach’s well-structured, thick-outlined panels create a rhythm to each punchline—and the punny jokes just keep coming. The bees’ theatrics and infectious enthusiasm pitted against Froggy’s deadpan dryness place the trio on par with greats like Bob Shea’s Ballet Cat and Sparkles or Mo Willems’ Piggie and Gerald. The stories are told almost entirely in dialogue; color-coded speech bubbles (yellow for Bee, green for Froggy, and orange for Bumble) max out at three per panel. The bright colors, expressive characters, and attention to detail will attract multiple reads. Readers will eagerly await the future planned books in the series.
Buzz-worthy. (Graphic early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-50492-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the...
In this deceptively spare, very beginning reader, a girl assembles a robot and then treats it like a slave until it goes on strike.
Having put the robot together from a jumble of loose parts, the budding engineer issues an increasingly peremptory series of rhymed orders— “Throw, Bot. / Row, Bot”—that turn from playful activities like chasing bubbles in the yard to tasks like hoeing the garden, mowing the lawn and towing her around in a wagon. Jung crafts a robot with riveted edges, big googly eyes and a smile that turns down in stages to a scowl as the work is piled on. At last, the exhausted robot plops itself down, then in response to its tormentor’s angry “Don’t say no, Bot!” stomps off in a huff. In one to four spacious, sequential panels per spread, Jung develops both the plotline and the emotional conflict using smoothly modeled cartoon figures against monochromatic or minimally detailed backgrounds. The child’s commands, confined in small dialogue balloons, are rhymed until her repentant “Come on home, Bot” breaks the pattern but leads to a more equitable division of labor at the end.
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the rest. (Easy reader. 4-6)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87083-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
An unfortunately simplistic delivery of a well-intentioned message.
Drawing on lyrics from her Mormon children’s hymn of the same title, Pearson explores diversity and acceptance in a more secular context.
Addressing people of varying ages, races, origins, and abilities in forced rhymes that omit the original version’s references to Jesus, various speakers describe how they—unlike “some people”—will “show [their] love for” their fellow humans. “If you don’t talk as most people do / some people talk and laugh at you,” a child tells a tongue-tied classmate. “But I won’t! / I won’t! / I’ll talk with you / and giggle too. / That’s how I’ll show my love for you.” Unfortunately, many speakers’ actions feel vague and rather patronizing even as they aim to include and reassure. “I know you bring such interesting things,” a wheelchair user says, welcoming a family “born far, far away” who arrives at the airport; the adults wear Islamic clothing. As pink- and brown-skinned worshipers join a solitary brown-skinned person who somehow “[doesn’t] pray as some people pray” on a church pew, a smiling, pink-skinned worshiper’s declaration that “we’re all, I see, one family” raises echoes of the problematic assertion, “I don’t see color.” The speakers’ exclamations of “But I won’t!” after noting others’ prejudiced behavior reads more as self-congratulation than promise of inclusion. Sanders’ geometric, doll-like human figures are cheery but stiff, and the text’s bold, uppercase typeface switches jarringly to cursive for the refrain, “That’s how I’ll show my love for you.” Characters’ complexions include paper-white, yellow, pink, and brown.
An unfortunately simplistic delivery of a well-intentioned message. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4236-5395-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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