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
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
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