A good-natured reminder not to forget oneself when being kind to others.
A bear learns a valuable lesson: remember yourself when sharing.
Bear goes out on a snowy day and heeds Mom’s advice to bundle up in warm clothing. He joins in fun activities with various animal friends, for which he’s prepared, clothingwise—but they’re not. Generous pal that he is, Bear doffs his toasty duds, one by one, and shares them with his friends so they’ll feel comfortable. It doesn’t take long before Bear’s comrades are attired in sweater, earmuffs, scarf, mittens, etc., but he’s not, and he feels chilled. Bear returns home, where Mom encourages her sniffly son to snuggle under the bedcovers, gently praising him for being a good friend. Before long, the gang shows up with gifts, including edibles and some cold-weather gear, to help Bear feel better and expressing gratitude for his generosity. Then everyone troops outdoors, this time all properly attired. This gentle import from Belgium and the Netherlands is translated from Dutch and offers a warm message indeed. Narrated in first-person, present tense, it’s a twist on the sharing-is-caring trope. While there are many books on this theme, few convey the idea that sharing doesn’t necessarily entail completely ignoring one’s own needs. The colorful, appealing illustrations are sweet, lively, and full of snowy white space, and they reflect the friends’ camaraderie and good cheer. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.2-by-19.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 74.4% of actual size.)
A good-natured reminder not to forget oneself when being kind to others. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-60537-572-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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