Delightful and educational.
Can Kitty get her big sister, Clara, to stop texting long enough to enjoy the world around her?
Young Kitty wants to have fun during the summer holidays, but overdramatic sister Clara just likes to declare how bored she is and do…nothing. When Dad suggests a trip to the Dublin Zoo, Kitty’s excited, planning to draw all the animals that she sees. Clara agrees to go, albeit with arms crossed and a sour expression on her face. Kitty draws the fruit bats, throwing in some fruit-bat trivia in Q-and-A form. Clara calls her “weird.” Visits to the elephants, giraffes, and red pandas follow. These last appeal to Clara, and she begins taking selfies with them. She’s getting into the spirit a bit. Kitty and Clara next see the tapirs, the tigers, and the sea lions. Kitty draws them all and shares some more fun facts. Kitty studies an unusual monkey called a macaque, and Clara falls in love with the new baby rhino. Both sisters are fascinated by the meerkats, and Clara feels inspired to collaborate with Kitty on her meerkat drawing. At the day’s end, the sisters have a stronger bond. Bowie’s delightfully shaggy illustrations, which look like they were done by Kitty herself, add immense charm to this story of sisterly understanding and animal exploration. They depict Kitty and her family as white.
Delightful and educational. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-84717-949-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: O'Brien Press/Dufour Editions
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Willems’ formula is still a winner.
The pigeon is back, and he is filthy!
Readers haven’t seen the pigeon for a couple of years, not since The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (2012), and apparently he hasn’t bathed in all that time. Per the usual routine, the bus driver (clad in shower cap and bathrobe) opens the story by asking readers to help convince the pigeon to take a bath. Though he’s covered in grime, the obstreperous bird predictably resists. He glares at readers and suggests that maybe they need baths. With the turn of the page, Willems anticipates readers’ energetic denials: The pigeon demands, “YEAH! When was the last time YOU had a bath?!” Another beat allows children to supply the answer. “Oh.” A trio of flies that find him repulsive (“P.U.!”) convinces him it’s time. One spread with 29 separate panels depicts the pigeon adjusting the bath (“Too wet!…Too cold.…Too reflective”) before the page turn reveals him jumping in with a spread-filling “SPLASH!” Readers accustomed to the pigeon formula will note that here the story breaks from its normal rhythms; instead of throwing a tantrum, the pigeon discovers what readers already know: “This is FUN!” All the elements are in place, including page backgrounds that modulate from dirty browns to fresh, clean colors and endpapers that bookend the story (including a very funny turnabout for the duckling, here a rubber bath toy).
Willems’ formula is still a winner. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9087-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
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