A pleasant, if slightly uneven, cat tale with a lesson about facing one’s fears.
An anxious cat learns lessons from family members with various skills in Kott-Tannenbaum’s brief picture book.
Rosencrantz is a 2-year-old tuxedo cat whose nickname is “Rosie.” Sometimes Rosie is scared of loud noises, such as vacuum cleaners and fireworks, so he hides. Luckily, Rosie’s older brother, Guildenstern—known as “Gil”—teaches Rosie that feeling afraid is perfectly fine. Gil is so courageous that he’s even been on an airplane before. Rosie’s sister, Portia, is also brave around loud noises; she even dances when the vacuum starts. Rosencrantz practices being brave himself by exploring new places outdoors, and he works on his balance to move like Portia. After a busy day, Rosie feels more confident in his skills, and also ready to do what he does best: curl up in his favorite place—a laundry basket—and nap. Kott-Tannenbaum’s kids’ story has a somewhat subtle message—it’s great to learn new things, as long as you know yourself—that may be unclear to kids on first reading. Not until the last page does the title of the story make sense, which may initially confuse some, but Fu’s full-color, painterly illustrations have a certain sweetness to them, and Rosie’s eyes convey plenty of emotion—happiness, uncertainty, excitement—throughout the gentle story.
A pleasant, if slightly uneven, cat tale with a lesson about facing one’s fears.Pub Date: March 23, 2024
ISBN: 9798218353742
Page Count: 18
Publisher: GreenMud Design
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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