A cute, zany retelling.
When inventor’s block strikes, Goldilocks leaves her house open to some benevolent intruders.
In this rhyming reversal of the classic English fairy tale, it’s pale, pink-cheeked, straw-blond Goldilocks who owns a home, where her bed, chair, and porridge are all set up the way she likes them. As an inventor, she works in the style of Rube Goldberg—more cartoonish than practical—making “gadgets that could zip your coat / and tie your tennis shoes. / Tools that help you seek and find / whatever you might lose.” Illustrations of the last doodad, for example, show a hat with attached flashlight, magnifying glass, and teeny satellite dish. Bright primary colors, simple shapes, and carefree lines provide a lighthearted silliness well-matched with the rhyme, so that when three passing brown bears walk into Goldilocks’ empty home, there’s no guile involved. “We truly couldn’t help ourselves,” they claim; “we’re three bear engineers!” They add wheels to her chair, honey to her porridge, and new gears to her self-rocking bed. The “innovations” are just caricatures of various everyday devices, but a returning Goldilocks is still delighted to discover them, and she invites the bears back to “make the next big thing.” There’s not much under the surface of this teamwork story (aside from the minor home invasion), but it’s an amusing read-aloud and good for a game of spot-the-screwdriver.
A cute, zany retelling. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8075-2997-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories.
What does Annie want to be?
As career day approaches, Annie wants to keep her job choice secret until her family sees her presentation at school. Readers will figure it out, however, through the title and clues Tadgell incorporates into the illustrations. Family members make guesses about her ambitions that are tied to their own passions, although her brother watches as she completes her costume in a bedroom with a Mae Jemison poster, starry décor, and a telescope. There’s a celebratory mood at the culminating presentation, where Annie says she wants to “soar high through the air” like her basketball-playing mother, “explore faraway places” like her hiker dad, and “be brave and bold” like her baker grandmother (this feels forced, but oven mitts are part of her astronaut costume) so “the whole world will hear my exciting stories” like her reporter grandfather. Annie jumps off a chair to “BLAST OFF” in a small illustration superimposed on a larger picture depicting her floating in space with a reddish ground below. It’s unclear if Annie imagines this scene or if it’s her future-self exploring Mars, but either scenario fits the aspirational story. Backmatter provides further reading suggestions and information about the moon and four women astronauts, one of whom is Jemison. Annie and her family are all black.
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-88448-523-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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