This cozy book is as comforting as a warm quilt and a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night.
During sleepovers with her grandmother, a young girl imagines she’ll be just like her grandmother one day.
On special weekends, Maud spends the night at her grandmother’s house, watching black-and-white movies, eating breakfast for dinner, and telling stories. Maud loves imagining the past, when Grand-Maud was a little girl, as well as the future, when Maud will become a Grand-Maud herself with a granddaughter to love. An ode to intergenerational relationships, O’Leary’s story unfolds in a series of short vignettes. The connections between past and present are strengthened as the two characters ask each other questions and explore the answers. Maud’s love and adoration for her grandmother make up the backbone of this comforting book, perfect for a snuggly, bedtime read. Textured, sepia-toned backgrounds set off characters rendered in saturated colors. As the story drifts backward and forward in time, Pak’s illustrations provide a strong framework to help readers keep their footing. Grand-Maud is depicted with white hair and pale skin; in a photograph of her as a child, she has blond hair. Maud has straight black hair and presents Asian. When Maud speaks of the seven children she might have one day, she imagines them to have many different combinations of her and Grand-Maud’s physical traits.
This cozy book is as comforting as a warm quilt and a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-399-55458-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Unforgettable
When Grandpa tells his granddaughter he has lost his Cree words, the 7-year-old asks for an explanation.
The little girl leaves school elated that she has created her own dream catcher and anxious to share it with Grandpa, who meets her. Interested in her Cree culture, she asks if he’d tell her the Cree word for “grandfather.” He tells her the truth: long ago, he lost his Cree language when he was forced to attend a residential school with other children of his village. When the two arrive home, they sit on the porch stairs together so he can answer her many questions about the way in which his first language was stolen from him and his classmates. Distressed, his granddaughter comforts him and later finds the perfect way to help. Florence’s tender text soothes the harsh reality of having Native language stolen while attending one of Canada’s former residential schools for Indigenous children. Grimard’s equally emotive illustrations show the stark realities of the experience in symbolic images, as when a crow that embodies their words is locked in a cage, and literal ones, as in a heartbreaking picture of grieving mothers stretching their arms toward the bus that takes their children away. At the same time the soft colors and nuanced expressions enrich Florence’s text. Images from the past are rendered in sepia tones, while bright blues, greens, and russets suffuse the contemporary tale.
Unforgettable . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-77260-037-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartwarming reminder to embrace change.
A dog who belongs to an expecting couple adjusts to home life as a new baby arrives.
Pepita, the family pet, is beloved and still so little they call her Bebita (baby girl). But Pepita’s world is changing as her Mami and Papi await the arrival of a baby. Pepita is used to being spoiled “with treats and tummy rubs and my favorite fluffy pillow….But lately, things have been changing.” As the home gets new additions like a crib and gifts from the grandparents, Pepita feels left out, no longer the center of attention. Once the baby arrives, Pepita tries to adjust but is kept up at night by crying and doesn’t get playtime like before. But Pepita’s sweetness shines through as she finds ways to help out and bond with the new baby. “I feel so proud to be the big sister,” she concludes. The book is sprinkled with Spanish phrases, reflecting that Pepita is part of a Latine household; readers unfamiliar with Spanish will find the glossary helpful. Illustrations are warm and cuddly throughout, and the story is highly relatable; soon-to-be big siblings fretting over a new arrival will find it especially comforting. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A heartwarming reminder to embrace change. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9780593566985
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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