When a little girl helps her Mommy prepare for a night out, it results in a flurry of activity and a mountain of choices. Mommy’s beautician fetches polish and powder, then mixes up her own secret lotion potion. When it turns into a drippy mess, she quickly runs a bath, adding lots of ingredients that ultimately overflow the tub. Next, as fashion consultant, she chooses just the right fancy dress, trying on and picking the perfect heels to match. Only one choice remains—lipstick. She agonizes, finally selecting the “shiniest, prettiest, brightest red.” Its importance becomes clear, as Mommy kisses her little helper: “My kiss is my promise. / I promise, and then, / while you dream, / I’ll come home and I’ll kiss you again.” While the premise is very sweet, moms will shudder to think of giving their daughters this much autonomy, especially considering the mess it generates. Betteridge’s watercolors echo the activity level and myriad choices found in the rhyming verse. Cute, but Audrey Penn’s Kissing Hand is much neater. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-55037-909-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2005
A snappy rhyming text celebrates an extended family’s joyous gyrations to the jazz spinning on the turntable. From waking to sleep, Baby’s right in the thick of it, as siblings, grandparents and cousins move and groove: “So they BOOM-BOOM-BOOM / and they HIP-HIP-HOP / and the bouncin’ baby boogies with a BOP-BOP-BOP.” Wheeler’s verse scans beautifully and begs to be read aloud—danced to, even—making this a fine choice for preschool and kindergarten story times. Christie’s bold, double-paged gouache compositions locate this colorfully garbed, expressively hip family within an equally vibrant community. As Baby’s big dark eyes get glassy with fatigue, the party winds down. “Daddy sings blues. / Mama sings sweet. / While that snoozy-woozy baby . . . / . . . sleeps deep, deep, deep.” Exultant and infectious, from the red-and-yellow-striped endpapers to the final “OH YEAH!” (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-15-202522-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2007
It may be his mothers’ wedding day, but it’s Donovan’s big day in Newman’s (Heather Has Two Mommies, 1989, etc.) latest picture book about queer family life. Centered on the child’s experience and refreshingly eschewing reference to controversy, the book emerges as a celebration of not only Mommy’s and Mama’s mutual love but progress toward equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Readers, however, don't know immediately know why it is “a very BIG day” for Donovan or what the “very BIG job” is that he has to do. In his affectionate, humorous gouache paintings with digital finish, Dutton cleverly includes clues in the form of family pictures in an earlier spread set inside their home, and then a later spread shows Donovan in a suit and placing a “little white satin box that Aunt Jennifer gave him” into his pocket, hinting toward his role as ring bearer. But it’s not until the third-to-last spread that he stands with his parents and hands “one shiny gold ring to Mommy [and] one shiny gold ring to Mama.” He, of course, gets to kiss the brides on the last page, lending a happily-ever-after sensibility to the end of this story about a family's new beginning. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58246-332-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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