A (mostly) playful discovery of the awesome qualities that children can notice in themselves and others.
Funny, kind, brave…this book’s message to kids is that they can be anything.
Each spread shows a child doing something they enjoy, such as making someone laugh, creating a work of art, or helping with chores. The words “You can be…” are at the top of each page in a section of solid-color border that frames the cartoon-style double-page illustration. Each image features a child embodying the adjective they accompany, which is printed in bold, all-capital black type within the illustrated frame. A white child with glasses reads in a caregiver’s lap; the text reads: “You can be…CLEVER.” A black child with a determined grin and puffy pigtails pulls a younger child in a wagon; the text reads: “You can be…STRONG.” This predictable pattern along with the emphatic lines and bold colors will appeal to toddlers and even babies. This is a great read-aloud for talking about personality, temperament, and emotions, but as only positive qualities and attributes are shared, it’s not a full exploration of the emotional-literacy spectrum. The pairing of intellectual attainment with white children who wear glasses plays into stereotypes. In a disappointing tableau, one of these children is depicted in the foreground, with tidy hair and a bow tie, listening attentively as an adult reads aloud while two other children in the background, one a child of color, display preschooler-appropriate wiggles.
A (mostly) playful discovery of the awesome qualities that children can notice in themselves and others. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-20218-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Wonderful, indeed
A love song to baby with delightful illustrations to boot.
Sweet but not saccharine and singsong but not forced, Martin’s text is one that will invite rereadings as it affirms parental wishes for children while admirably keeping child readers at its heart. The lines that read “This is the first time / There’s ever been you, / So I wonder what wonderful things / You will do” capture the essence of the picture book and are accompanied by a diverse group of babies and toddlers clad in downright adorable outfits. Other spreads include older kids, too, and pictures expand on the open text to visually interpret the myriad possibilities and hopes for the depicted children. For example, a spread reading “Will you learn how to fly / To find the best view?” shows a bespectacled, school-aged girl on a swing soaring through an empty white background. This is just one spread in which Martin’s fearless embrace of the white of the page serves her well. Throughout the book, she maintains a keen balance of layout choices, and surprising details—zebras on the wallpaper behind a father cradling his child, a rock-’n’-roll band of mice paralleling the children’s own band called “The Missing Teeth”—add visual interest and gentle humor. An ideal title for the baby-shower gift bag and for any nursery bookshelf or lap-sit storytime.
Wonderful, indeed . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37671-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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