A message to savor, delivered with a light touch and contagious glee.
If possessions don’t bring joy, what good are they?
With unfeigned, unreserved delight, a child imagines all the things they might do with a chance-found rubber band. “This is my rubber band!” they proclaim. Not only can the child keep it for themselves, but they can wear it, bundle up future love letters or “all the bad people in the world,” drive off invading aliens, fly away to visit distant lands, and much else besides. This leads to ruminations about how everyone has or is forever searching for things to keep and value—big thoughts that suddenly come to an end when the rubber band breaks. Again humorously plumbing philosophical depths just hinted at by a brief text and minimally detailed art, the author of The Boring Book (2019) and There Must Be More Than That! (2020) takes readers on a journey that illuminates both a child’s fertile imagination and our own understanding of what does, or should, matter in life. This small, cute child—their delicately drawn face, like those of their family and others in the pictures, left uncolored—shows a healthy sense of priorities, too, as after a quiet moment of surprise, they leave the broken rubber band behind to search out a new spark for their dreams and adventures: “Mommy! Mommy! Can I have this paper clip?” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A message to savor, delivered with a light touch and contagious glee. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79721-492-4
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
A winner of an early reader.
Channeling the can-do attitude of a certain little engine, Lewin’s alligator comes out on top with some help from his friend and despite the bullying of another gator.
Limited, repetitive text invites new readers to adopt the same spirit of determination about reading that the protagonist alligator does about swimming when he confidently tells his friend, “I can win” after they spy a sign reading “Big Race Sunday” posted on a tree. His self-assurance is challenged by a bigger, scowling alligator wearing a red cap, who snarls, “No, you can’t.” Bickering leads to the bully shoving the littler gator, and then a spread showing the friend (who wears a pink bow on her head to distinguish her from the others), who says, “Yes, you can.” She encourages her friend as he practices for the race even while the antagonist continues to say “CANNOT,” and our hero perseveres. When the day of the big race arrives, the good guy does finish first, rejoicing, “I did it!” dripping wet and wearing his first-place medal, while his proud friend looks on. Throughout, Lewin’s restrained watercolor-and-ink artwork matches the control of the text, providing ample, white resting space for the eyes while delivering engaging and expressive characters. Subtle shifts in the placement of speech balloons provide humor while helping children decode.
A winner of an early reader. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2522-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Accessible, reassuring and hopeful.
This endearing picture book about a timid boy who longs to belong has an agenda but delivers its message with great sensitivity.
Brian wants to join in but is overlooked, even ostracized, by his classmates. Readers first see him alone on the front endpapers, drawing in chalk on the ground. The school scenarios are uncomfortably familiar: High-maintenance children get the teacher’s attention; team captains choose kickball players by popularity and athletic ability; chatter about birthday parties indicates they are not inclusive events. Tender illustrations rendered in glowing hues capture Brian’s isolation deftly; compared to the others and his surroundings, he appears in black and white. What saves Brian is his creativity. As he draws, Brian imagines amazing stories, including a poignant one about a superhero with the power to make friends. When a new boy takes some ribbing, it is Brian who leaves an illustrated note to make him feel better. The boy does not forget this gesture. It only takes one person noticing Brian for the others to see his talents have value; that he has something to contribute. Brian’s colors pop. In the closing endpapers, Brian’s classmates are spread around him on the ground, “wearing” his chalk-drawn wings and capes. Use this to start a discussion: The author includes suggested questions and recommended reading lists for adults and children.
Accessible, reassuring and hopeful. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-582-46450-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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