Not exactly captivating toddler fare, but this celebration of love and life will no doubt be enjoyed by doting new parents...
A parent or other loving caregiver proclaims love for a child in a series of couplets that invoke the beauty of each month of the year.
The smooth verses cleverly use the distinctive features of each month to describe the love the parent has for the child. For instance: “I love you more than the white clouds in July / Galloping into the wild August sky.” The detailed, realistic illustrations depict an adorable, curly-headed little Caucasian girl exploring the outdoors with her trusty teddy bear at her side. July finds her on the beach, flying a kite with teddy lounging in a beach chair nearby, and she spends a lovely October day jumping into a pile of red and gold leaves, teddy’s hand in hers. In a nice touch, the narrator isn’t pictured until the final spread in which toddler and teddy are curled up on an adult’s lap with a book—even here, no face is pictured, so the loving adult could be man or woman, old or young. The child hearing the story can fill in the details.
Not exactly captivating toddler fare, but this celebration of love and life will no doubt be enjoyed by doting new parents and their not-yet-mobile infants. (Board book. 6 mos.-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0240-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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