A quiet young whale finds his own way to contribute to his pod’s song.
Grampa Whale sings to find food, and Mama Whale sings to keep the pod safe, but young humpback whale Lloyd’s song is just too quiet. While enjoying the peace of a kelp forest, Lloyd finds an unusual thing: a ukulele covered in “ancient, sea-tumbled glass,” with “storm-strong seaweed strings.” Amann’s debut picture book contains a sprinkling of these descriptive turns of phrase, but her illustrations are what really shine. Each page conveys the mood with a different kind of ocean light, such as dappled kelp forest, deep, dark blue depths, and filtered sunbeams. The sounds at the center of the narrative are also depicted visually: The whale song is rendered as floaty pink lines nostalgically reminiscent of a stereo equalizer, the noise of a ship is unpleasant yellow-green zigzags, and Lloyd’s ukulele produces sparkling gold confetti. Lloyd learns to play his whale song on the ukulele just in time to save his pod from noise pollution caused by the ship. Along with an introduction to the science of whale song and how noise pollution affects it, readers will learn that everyone can contribute in their own way. Though this lesson is familiar, it is notable and refreshing in that Lloyd does not uncover an innate special power but rather employs a tool to support him.
A sweet story buoyed by beautiful illustrations. (further information, whale song musical notation, bibliography) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62414-943-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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Hee haw.
11
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The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A must-have book about the power of one’s voice and the friendships that emerge when you are yourself.
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School-age children encounter and overcome feelings of difference from their peers in the latest picture book from Woodson.
This nonlinear story centers on Angelina, with big curly hair and brown skin, as she begins the school year with a class share-out of summer travels. Text and illustrations effectively work together to convey her feelings of otherness as she reflects on her own summer spent at home: “What good is this / when others were flying,” she ponders while leaning out her city window forlornly watching birds fly past to seemingly faraway places. López’s incorporation of a ruler for a door, table, and tree into the illustrations creatively extends the metaphor of measuring up to others. Three other children—Rigoberto, a recent immigrant from Venezuela; a presumably Korean girl with her “too strange” lunch of kimchi, meat, and rice; and a lonely white boy in what seems to be a suburb—experience more-direct teasing for their outsider status. A bright jewel-toned palette and clever details, including a literal reflection of a better future, reveal hope and pride in spite of the taunting. This reassuring, lyrical book feels like a big hug from a wise aunt as she imparts the wisdom of the world in order to calm trepidatious young children: One of these things is not like the other, and that is actually what makes all the difference.
A must-have book about the power of one’s voice and the friendships that emerge when you are yourself. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-24653-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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