This one’s all about the charming illustrations; readers will enjoy the familiar lullabies, but it’s not a seminal collection
A board-book collection of familiar, classic lullabies and children’s rhymes.
Garland’s illustrations of a darling bunny family accompany this set of childhood favorites, from “Rock-a-Bye Baby” to “Hush, Little Baby.” Two original rhymes that share the book’s title are included as bookends to the others, both to the tune of “Hush Little Baby.” These two are, frankly, unnecessary additions, with awkward lines that pale in comparison with the others. Because the lullabies are well-known, the watercolor-and-ink illustrations really take center stage. Each spread shows the bunny mother and her two little bunnies progressing closer and closer to bedtime, reading (and acting out) the rhymes as they go. There is excellent use of repeated, echoing images, including the tree and its famous rock-a-bye branches and the moon that the cow jumped over. The animals of “Hey, Diddle, Diddle” are adorable and make for a painting that readers might wish they could hang on the wall. The collection could nicely be used as a bedtime book for young readers or simply as a one-poem-at-a-time resource—just be sure to skip the first and last.
This one’s all about the charming illustrations; readers will enjoy the familiar lullabies, but it’s not a seminal collection . (Board book. 6 mos.-4)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4867-1546-6
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Flowerpot Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A small but mighty collection sure to remind readers that love, again, can prevail over all if given the chance.
In this collection, poet Giovanni seeks to remind black children especially that they are loved.
Giovanni carries the weight of the love that has sustained generations and united communities to her poems with amazing, succinct elegance. Standouts include “I Am a Mirror,” opposite which Bryan centers a real inset mirror against a colorful background of vibrant shapes amid natural landscapes. “I reflect the strengths / Of my people / And for that alone / I am loved,” concludes Giovanni’s ode to black ancestry and intergenerational resilience. “No Heaven” takes another heartwarming approach sure to incite genuine embraces among readers. “How can there be / No Heaven / When tears comfort / When dreams caress / When you smile / at me.” Recalling her earlier collection Hip Hop Speaks to Children (2008, illustrated by Kristen Balouch), Giovanni ends with the playful and reflective “Do the Rosa Parks,” a rhythmic and moving song about the power of sitting down to stand up. Outkast vibes run through it, though some readers may wish for an instructional cue. Throughout, Bryan’s bright tempera and watercolor paintings offer readers harmonious forms and flowing lines, smiling black children and adults arranged as if in tropically colored stained-glass windows. The two masters together deliver another powerful addition to their separate, award-winning catalogs.
A small but mighty collection sure to remind readers that love, again, can prevail over all if given the chance. (Picture book/poetry. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0492-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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