Adults: get ready for your children to ask you to lie facedown in the snow at the top of a hill.
The same four bears who puzzled out an issue with chairs (Bears on Chairs, 2009, etc.) again face the problem of where to fit four bear bottoms.
On a winter day, each of the four bears—Floppy, Fuzzy, Calico, and Yellow—pulls on a different article of winter clothing and dashes outside to play, beckoning Big Brown Bear to come too. But though the bears are small, only two of their tushies can fit on the lone red sled at a time, and it’s very hard to wait for a turn: slanted eyebrows, downturned faces, and sloping shoulders show just how hard. What if they squeeze in close? Can four fit then? Nope. In a departure from the problem-solving the little bears showed in their first outing, Big Brown Bear comes up with the solution after they have tried only the one idea. He plops down in the snow on his belly and invites them all to climb aboard. “They shriek with joy. / That hill is steep. / They land at the bottom / in a laughing heap.” Cozy mugs of hot chocolate shared together end their day. Walker’s acrylic illustrations feature soft colors against simple backgrounds, playing up the action and the characters’ emotions.
Adults: get ready for your children to ask you to lie facedown in the snow at the top of a hill. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8148-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This revisitation of familiar holiday fare doesn’t stand out.
A visit from St. Nicholas with a trip to the barnyard, too.
In their cadence, rhyme scheme, and word choices, Manning’s adapted verses borrow liberally from the original poem credited to Clement C. Moore (and sometimes to Henry Livingston). Occasional word choices can read like missteps rather than innovations, however; the original poem’s “wondering eyes” are recast as “wandering eyes,” for example. Instead of using the poem’s original first-person narrator, this version employs the omniscient third to introduce a little lamb who awakens and observes Santa Claus’ sleigh landing on the farmhouse roof. No one joins her in her observations, but readers are invited to do so as she tries to figure out what’s happening in the full-bleed, rather flat art that seems like something from an animation studio. Eventually, it’s not what the lamb sees but what she hears that moves her from befuddlement to understanding, when Santa (who appears White) laughs “Ho, ho, ho.” As she watches him place presents under the tree in the house, she hopes he’ll have gifts for her, too. He does, of course, and the illustrations show the fruits, veggies, and other animal-friendly treats he puts into their stockings before leaving the little lamb to settle in again to sleep away the rest of Christmas Eve. It’s all sweet but hardly novel.
This revisitation of familiar holiday fare doesn’t stand out. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0625-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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