Climb aboard and regulate wiggly minds and bodies.
A little bear compares mindfulness techniques to the sights and sounds of a train station.
Thoughts, emotions, and desires swirl into a child’s mind at a moment’s notice, just like a train rushing into the station. One car has an ice-cream window; another is full of toys! A flatbed carries wishes—like “birthday cake for breakfast.” Spilling out of another are all the “words you wanted to say, / adventures, stories and games you could play.” The cuddly cub doesn’t board the train but instead stays at the station, noticing each car and watching them zoom by. The train whistles and screeches as it arrives but hums a meditative “clickety-clack” as it chugs away. While the rhyming verse is not as regular as that onomatopoeia suggests, the conceit is gracefully and consistently handled: “Wait! The signal lights are flashing: red, yellow, green. / Stop and slow down your breathing machine. // Feel the thumpety-thump of your little heartbeat / from the top of your head to the tips of your feet.” Calming watercolors and delicately inked illustrations match the soothing mood. Katz employs a very clever concept: a metaphor using a favorite childhood obsession—it’s hard to top that. Plus, no baggage (literal or figurative) is needed for this trip. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-15-inch double-page spreads viewed at 77.4% of actual size.)
Climb aboard and regulate wiggly minds and bodies. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61180-791-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bala Kids/Shambhala
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A timely message in the wrong format.
This book delivers a message on the power of collective action.
As the book opens, a child looks at a lone star shining in the sky: “One star shines as distant light.” After the turn of the page, the child now sees what looks like the Milky Way: “And when stars shine together, they make our galaxy.” The book goes on to give a number of similar examples to reinforce the message of the power that comes from working together, ending with: “One of us can speak up for justice / And when we speak up together we create a world of possibility.” In the current atmosphere of strife and discord that divides our country, this is certainly a welcome message. Perhaps, though, the board-book set is not the right audience. As a picture book aimed at a slightly older group with an information page at the end explaining some of the illustrations, it might work well. As it is, however, some of the visual references will merely puzzle a toddler—and some adults. For example, a group of angry-looking people raising their fists and singing together may not look like “harmony” to a toddler—unless they know about the New Zealand haka. There is an unexplained frog motif that runs through the book that may also mystify readers. Nagara’s brilliant illustrations portray people of many ethnic backgrounds.
A timely message in the wrong format. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64421-084-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Triangle Square Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Raindrops are delightful and danceable musical melodies.
Movie happiness is now picture-book joy.
The title song from the classic 1952 movie musical is a song-and-dance salute to joie de vivre—as is this book version. It opens with a cheerful double-page spread of a brown-skinned child in perfectly matched yellow rain gear perched on a lamppost as musical notes in the same cheerful yellow stand out against a blue rain-splattered background. Homage to Gene Kelly? Of course! On the following pages, children in equally colorful rainy-day outfits join in the fun as they dance and march along. They watch from the observation deck of the Empire State Building as clouds fill the sky and the same bright yellow notes appear. Close-ups of the smiling, multiracial cast follow as they watch flowers grow or a reflection in a puddle and then happily splash away to other landscapes filled with tropical birds and lush green foliage. Sing the lyrics or recite the words “based on the song” and have a really good time. Hopgood’s digitally rendered collages of watercolor, pencil, and ink add depth, texture, and buoyant spirit to the package.
Raindrops are delightful and danceable musical melodies. (illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12770-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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