An inventive concept that encourages art and creativity.
This debut picture book, jointly written and illustrated by Lee and young poet Kim, a mother and daughter team, explores the notion of creative play while riffing on the works of Pablo Picasso.
“Have you ever made yummy flower soup in your pretend kitchen?” the authors ask. Their illustration is rendered in the style of a Korean ink drawing and includes (by way of collage) a photo of flower soup. While the composition mirrors Picasso’s Three Women at the Spring (to which readers are directed via hyperlink), the modified picture is far more vibrant and features a red-maned lion-woman. Such is the pattern of this collection: colorful, creative adaptations of Picasso’s work, thematically linked by lion imagery. The activities are presented as alternatives to TV and computer games. The question “Have you ever hiked and collected acorns, pine cones, and nuts?” accompanies a bright take on Bather With Sand Shovel. “Have you ever built cool houses with colorful blocks?” captions a joyous pastel piece referencing Picasso’s more dour cubist painting Houses on the Hill. The authors favor interpretations as happy and upbeat as Picasso’s originals were somber and confronting. The text doesn’t tell a story; instead, it describes the visual content of each page. The book’s unique, lively art will entrance young and adult readers alike, and researching the Picasso originals can provide more edutainment for all. (The tonal difference between the smiling lion on the front cover and Picasso’s The Weeping Woman is particularly interesting!) A catalog of techniques and materials affords readers insight into the authors’ artistic methods.
An inventive concept that encourages art and creativity.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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