An enjoyable tale, but one that should be read with parental guidance.
A little girl and a gadget get into some mischief in Keith and Gordon’s debut picture book.
Claire’s parents order a smart speaker that responds to requests. Her mother asks it to play NPR (Keith is an NPR correspondent), and her dad asks it to put things on the family’s shopping list. Because the speaker never says no, Claire secretly adds a wild assortment to the list, including a guitar, a robot, a Tesla, stickers, and even “poop”; in a relatable turn, she requests poop “a few more times because it made her laugh.” Soon, however, the items start showing up at the door. (Yes, including poop, which arrives as bags of manure.) Realizing her mistake, Claire confesses to her parents, and all the stuff is returned with one exception: a puppy. Overall, this book delivers a tale that’s amusing and fun. However, its ending, which seems to reward Claire’s mischief, may require grown-ups to advise young readers not to imitate the protagonist. Fiddy’s subdued watercolor illustrations are delightful and full of jokes for adults, such as a delivery truck from All Things Delivered. Claire and her family are all portrayed with a range of skin tones.
An enjoyable tale, but one that should be read with parental guidance.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73667-570-0
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Rock-It Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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