Considerable fun, just like a game of shinny, and a reason to cut greenhouse-gas emissions that everybody can get behind.
The Canadian classic twanging salute to hockey, visually set to a gathering of outdoor puck-slingers.
Connors is a Canadian legend for his songs of the northland; in his bouncy, Western, steel-guitar style, he sang about not only hockey, but lumberjacks, snowmobiles, and all things Canadian. In winter, in Canada, where you can’t throw a puck without hitting ice, a pickup game is par for every evening’s course (and early morning, lunch, all day long). Clement locates this game on an urban playground rink, where a white father and son lace up and start singing, setting the chilly air vibrating: “Oh! The good ol’ hockey game, / is the best game you can name.” All are welcome at the good ol’ hockey game, and the players, a multiracial bunch, keep popping on to the rink—what Canadian is ever without a pair of hockey skates?—with their favorite teams’ jerseys. Clement gives each new skater a different, bright shirt, and as the night gets darker, the rink seems to glow brighter. While the presentation here has plenty of steam, it can’t be helped but to think this piece of work needs a singalong, and one read through may be all that’s required to send people looking for a recording.
Considerable fun, just like a game of shinny, and a reason to cut greenhouse-gas emissions that everybody can get behind. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77164-189-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greystone Books
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
This book sings.
Hamilton star Soo’s debut picture book centers on a young girl confronting stage fright.
Piper Chen twirls through her days with her mouth wide open. When Mr. Harris, her music teacher, asks Piper if she’d like to sing a solo in the Spring Sing, she immediately answers, “Yes!” But later, she finds herself frozen during practice. Later, Piper’s grandmother Nǎi Nai notices that Piper isn’t singing, and Piper explains about the solo and the butterflies in her stomach. Nǎi Nai understands and explains that she experienced “húdié” (Chinese for butterflies) at her first piano recital. They also visited whenever something exciting was ahead, like when she left China for America, when she graduated from music school, and when she became a U.S. citizen. “Now, when they greet me, I greet them back. ‘Hello, húdié. Nǐ hǎo.’” The night of the show, Piper feels the butterflies flapping their wings. She hums to herself, “Hello, húdié” and sings. Soo and Pasquale Doran sensitively capture the anxiety of performing and draw parallels with other life changes while giving readers a concrete tool for addressing those butterflies. Leng’s delicate, expressive ink, watercolor, and oil pastel illustrations capture Piper’s enthusiasm and uncertainty as well as Nǎi Nai’s loving warmth, working seamlessly with the text in vignettes and full spreads. Piper Chen and Nǎi Nai are Chinese American; Mr. Harris is brown-skinned.
This book sings. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593564691
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Black and brown nature lovers, here’s one to read and share
Mother-daughter author-illustrator team Anne (who passed away in April 2018) and Lizzy Rockwell have crafted a quiet story that positively portrays a black family spending time in nature. While this shouldn’t be a news flash in 2018, it is.
A black family—mom, dad, and daughter—drives 20 minutes away from their suburb for a day hike up Hickory Hill, where they enjoy the flora, fauna, and autumnal changes. The higher they climb, the sparser the vegetation becomes until they reach the summit and take in the expansive views. This picture book offers a rare snapshot of a family of color spending quality family time in the woods. Since they think they are lost at one point, perhaps they have not hiked often, but this does not dampen their enthusiasm. Several animals make an appearance in the watercolor illustrations, done in a soft, mostly pastel palette, including a porcupine, birds, a deer, a chipmunk, and a toad. The young female narrator describes the woodpecker she sees as redheaded; this, too, suggests that she hasn’t done much bird-watching since the bird is a pileated woodpecker, and a kid who had grown up birding would know it by both sound and sight. Still, readers will appreciate the daughter’s delight as she chooses the trail to hike and really notices her surroundings.
Black and brown nature lovers, here’s one to read and share . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2737-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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