This beautifully illustrated, rhythmic tale unfortunately reinforces stereotypes about gender, religion, and language....
A tailor fulfills his dream of stitching something for his family in this Indian import that adapts a familiar Yiddish tale.
When poor but talented tailor Rupa Ram goes to a wedding, he is given the gift of a saafa, a colorful headpiece made of fine cloth. Rupa Ram wears the saafa until it wears out—but instead of throwing it away, he salvages what is left to make an odhni (scarf) for his wife. When she wears it out, he uses scraps to make a kurta (shirt) for his son, and, with his son’s scraps, a gudiya (doll) for his daughter. At last the tailor is left with the most precious thing of all: a kahaani, or story, which will never wear out. Surendranath’s vibrant illustrations burst with life and color, and such details as the school where Rupa Ram’s wife teaches add welcome dimension to the story’s characters. Venkat’s text is rhythmic, simple, and cleverly repetitive, but ultimately, the stereotypes it reinforces detract from its charm. Leaving the daughter with only scraps is a cycle that reflects deeply entrenched gender hierarchies. Additionally, the glossary in this U.S. edition erases India’s diversity by referring to a saafa as a “garment worn by Indian men at weddings,” implying that all Indian weddings are Hindu and that all cultures in India practice this regional tradition. The tale’s source is given only as “a European folktale.”
This beautifully illustrated, rhythmic tale unfortunately reinforces stereotypes about gender, religion, and language. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-81-9338-890-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Karadi Tales
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Pair this with Leo Timmers’ Who Is Driving? (2007) for twice the guessing fun.
Heling and Hembrook’s clever conceit challenges children to analyze a small town’s clotheslines to guess the job each of their owners does.
Close-up on the clothesline: “Uniform and cap, / an invite for you. / Big bag of letters. / What job does she do?” A turn of the page reveals a macro view of the home, van and the woman doing her job, “She is a mail carrier.” Indeed, she can be spotted throughout the book delivering invitations to all the rest of the characters, who gather at the end for a “Launch Party.” The verses’ rhymes are spot-on, though the rhythm falters a couple of times. The authors nicely mix up the gender stereotypes often associated with several of these occupations, making the carpenter, firefighter and astronaut women. But while Davies keeps uniforms and props pretty neutral (he even avoids U.S. mail symbols), he keeps to the stereotypes that allow young readers to easily identify occupations—the farmer chews on a stalk of wheat; the beret-wearing artist sports a curly mustache. A subdued palette and plain white backgrounds keep kids’ focus on the clothing clues. Still, there are plenty of details to absorb—the cat with arched back that anticipates a spray of water, the firefighter who “lights” the rocket.
Pair this with Leo Timmers’ Who Is Driving? (2007) for twice the guessing fun. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-58089-251-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Will make readers fall in love with the city depicted within.
From a nurse to an emergency dispatcher, a look at the city dwellers whose work begins when the sun goes down.
Reading this book is like looking through a telescope—there are windows on nearly every page; some pages feature rectangular, windowlike vignettes of people at work. On the front cover, a taxi driver is visible through the side window of a cab, with a dog sitting up in the back seat. Above them, on an upper floor, a museum worker is doing some vacuuming, with dinosaur bones in the background. Many of the people can be seen only from a great distance, and the details we learn about them often come from just a few spare sentences: “The museum is closed, but the janitor and security guard are hard at work.” Downing’s blue-tinged, cozy artwork sometimes makes words almost unnecessary—in this case, the accompanying illustration says it all, a full spread showing the janitor reaching up to dust the nose of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Most of the people who are working late seem to be smiling, and while it’s difficult to find a message in the limited text, readers will close the book feeling that there’s joy to be found in every job and every schedule. The residents of this urban environment are diverse in skin tone. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Will make readers fall in love with the city depicted within. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-8234-5206-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
