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THE CLYDESIDE CATS

Name: THE CLYDESIDE CATS
Author: Sandra Lane
ISBN: 978-1-5246-6743-6

by Sandra Lane ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 12, 2016

Simple, relatable cat-centered tales and childlike illustrations add up to a cozy debut.

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A debut short story collection for children spins tales of Scottish cats learning life lessons.

Set in various locales along the Scotland’s River Clyde, this pleasant book features six short stories, each featuring an idiosyncratic cat engaged in a mild adventure. Each feline is named for a color (Rhuari Red Cat, Olivia Orange Cat, Ya Yellow Cat, and so on), which determines the book’s graphic design: white pages of text, each outlined in dots that correspond to each cat’s hue. The accompanying, uncredited illustrations are sweet and bright, and they have the untutored but charming appearance of children’s art. Members of the book’s young target audience will have no trouble relating to the felines, who observe and react to their adventures from a childlike perspective. Rhuari Red Cat, for example, is certain that he’s “big, fearsome, and very, very scary” enough to ignore his mother’s warning that he’s too little to go hunting for food away from his home. He feels differently after he has unsuccessful encounters with trash bins and a garbage truck (which he sees as a “monster”). This and other stories are all presented with a light, gentle touch, and they feature pleasant messages involving friendship, empowerment, and the cozy security of home. For example, Ya Yellow Cat attends her owner’s ballet class and, through observation and practice, realizes her dream of becoming a graceful dancer; fire-station resident Peter Purple Cat takes a break from his official mouse-catching job for a too-exciting outing on a fire truck; vegetarian Bobby Blue Cat, who only eats tomatoes, fails at fishing but finds common ground with his meat-eating feline neighbors; and Gertie Green Cat ventures out of her “beautiful little house by the Firth of Clyde” to say hello to the blue sea, the green hills, and the golden sun—and after receiving no reply, she returns to the place she likes best: her owner’s lap.

Simple, relatable cat-centered tales and childlike illustrations add up to a cozy debut.

Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6743-6

Page Count: 84

Publisher: AuthorHouseUK

Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

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Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)