A sweetly humorous story for the friendship shelf.
Beekeeper Beatrice, a bear, and apple-grower Abel, a mouse, are best friends and neighbors.
It seems to be a perfect match. In the spring, Bea’s bees pollinate Abel’s trees, gathering nectar to make their honey. In summer and fall, each animal helps the other with the harvest, and all winter long they eat “crispy toast with apple butter” and sip “warm tea with honey” together. Their symbiosis is threatened when, one spring day, Abel startles a bee and is stung. Bea mistakes Abel’s howls of pain for laughter and joins in; hurt, Abel yells, inadvertently starting an exchange of insults: “Pie Face!” "Fuzz Brain!" In a snit, Abel erects a “no bees allowed” sign. (The bees ignore it.) Bea builds a fence. (The bees ignore it.) Furiously, the former friends pile high a heap of discarded items (including, in Gómez’s colorful, matte illustrations, a tennis racket, a bird cage, and a French horn). “And you know what the bees did.” When the pile of rubbish collapses on Bea, Abel forgets his pique and digs her out, and the friendship is restored. The pleasure in Horowitz’s story comes from its rhythmic, patterned text, which consciously reflects the reciprocal relationship between bees and trees, and its gentle understanding of how a little misunderstanding can blow up into a big rift.
A sweetly humorous story for the friendship shelf. (recipe) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-64521-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school...
The familiar theme of the challenges facing a new kid in town is given an original treatment by photographer Border in this book of photos of three-dimensional objects in a simple modeled landscape.
Peanut Butter is represented by a slice of white bread spread with the popular condiment. The other characters in the story—a hamburger with a pair of hot dogs in tow, a bowl of alphabet soup, a meatball jumping a rope of spaghetti, a carton of French fries and a pink cupcake—are represented by skillfully crafted models of these foods, anthropomorphized using simple wire construction. Rejected by each character in turn in his search for playmates, Peanut Butter discovers in the end that Jelly is his true match (not Cupcake, as the title suggests), perhaps because she is the only one who looks like him, being a slice of white bread spread with jelly. The friendly foods end up happily playing soccer together. Some parents may have trouble with the unabashedly happy depiction of carbs and American junk food (no carrots or celery sticks in this landscape), and others may find themselves troubled by the implication that friendship across difference is impossible.
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16773-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.
Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621110
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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