A book of warmhearted mix-ups, good for learning types of transportation and emotions.
Yumi and Grandma leave their separate houses to see each other at the same time, but they keep missing each other in this book first published in Japan in 1979 but only now being published in the United States.
Yumi decides she wants to visit Grandma at the same time Grandma decides to go see Yumi. They both leave their respective homes happy. While Yumi takes a bus alone, Grandma takes a train. When they arrive at their destinations, they realize their mix-up and head back to their homes. Yumi gets a ride in a truck with an adult and a cow, while Grandma takes a taxi. After missing each other again, Yumi takes a scooter and Grandma rides a motorcycle. They finally spot each other and decide to meet under a big tree. Gomi’s illustrations tell many details the text does not, placing Yumi’s home in a suburb and Grandma’s in a mountainous countryside. The simple backgrounds, painted in tans and browns, allow the characters (both brown-skinned) and modes of transportation to stand out on the page. The faces are simple, done in Gomi’s trademark style, but the emotions are conveyed clearly and add to both humor and meaning. American readers may be taken aback when they realize that Yumi travels alone on the bus, in a truck with an unidentified adult, and on her scooter, an independence that may be less remarkable in the author/illustrator’s Japanese culture.
A book of warmhearted mix-ups, good for learning types of transportation and emotions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6158-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
A syrupy tribute to mothers that may please fans of the series.
Another creature is on the loose.
The long-running series continues its successful formula with this Hallmark card of a book, which features bright illustrations and catchy rhymes. This time, the mythical creature the racially diverse children set out to catch is an absent mom who does it all (lists of descriptors include the words banker, caregiver, nurse, doctor, driver, chef, housekeeper, teacher, entertainer, playmate, laundry service, problem solver, handywoman, cleaner, and alarm clock) but doesn’t seem to have a job outside the home and is inexplicably a dinosaur. As the children prepare gifts and a meal for her, the text becomes an ode to the skills the Mamasaurus possesses (“Day or night she’s always there. / She meets every wish and need”) and values she instills (“Sometimes life can mean hard work,” “kindness matters,” and “what counts is doing your best”). This well-intentioned selection veers into cliche generously sprinkled with saccharine but manages to redeem itself with its appreciation for mothers and all that they may do. Endpapers include a “to” and “from” page framed in a heart, as well as a page where young gift givers or recipients can draw a picture of their Mamasaurus.
A syrupy tribute to mothers that may please fans of the series. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781728274300
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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