Those looking for a Southwestern or Mexican variant of The Little Red Hen will find it here. Burro, dressed in overalls and a chile-bedecked shirt, calls his friends to help him pick the corn to make tortillas: “Whinee aw ah aw. Mis amigos—vengan aquí.” Bobcat, coyote and jackrabbit in turn respond, “Yo no,” and add punning explanations. “I’ve really got to hop along,” says the jackrabbit. The silly illustrations are bland, but the corny text moves briskly. The main interest is in the cultural variation on the traditional story, and the demonstration of the process of making tortillas. An appendix contains information on corn, a recipe for tortillas and a Spanish-English vocabulary page with space to write (which could be a problem for libraries, although instructions for downloading the worksheets are also included). “Yo,” as the jackrabbit says, “Hare’s looking at you, let’s eat!” (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: June 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9768823-9-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sylvan Dell
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2007
A wonderful story of a community that takes care of its own.
Fruits, vegetables, and community help to cure a cold.
Art, a Black boy, wants to play in the park, but Daddy is still in bed with a cold. Art suggests that they make some “sick-fighting juice” with ginger to heal Daddy. When Daddy finds no juice-making ingredients in the fridge, they take the train to the Saturday farmers market downtown. As they visit the market’s vendors, no one has ginger, but everyone sells Daddy a fruit or vegetable that will help fight his cold. He buys carrots from Abbas, collards from Mrs. Johnson, Mexican cayenne from Maribel, apples from the co-op, and oranges from Mr. Abiodun, who just sold his last piece of ginger. When Daddy and Art find the train station closed, Art’s stepfather, Dhillon, rides by on his bicycle and offers them the ginger he bought from Mr. Abiodun and a car ride back to the house where Dhillon and Art’s Mama live and where several folks from the market have dropped by. Art makes juice in a juicer that Dhillon’s bike powers, and they all enjoy some. The backmatter includes a recipe for Art’s cold-clobbering juice. Liu-Trujillo’s watercolor-esque illustrations add verve and specificity to each character and convey the closeness both of this extended family and the vibrant, predominantly Black and brown neighborhood in which they live. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A wonderful story of a community that takes care of its own. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781643791135
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Big fun for new readers who are ready to turn their Where’s Waldo skills to finding text.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Big Bunny!
Controlled, repetitive text invites children to read short sentences directing them to find “a foot…a hand…a tail,” and so on. These named body parts belong to a figure that isn’t wholly visible until the book’s end, provoking readers to search them out in the detailed images. Their stark whiteness makes them stand out on the pages, which depict a busy, vibrant setting reminiscent of those in Richard Scarry books and are likewise populated by anthropomorphic animals going about their days. Shifting perspective and scale make it clear that the creature is not just another one of these animals, and many readers will use the title and cover image to infer that they belong to the eponymous Big Bunny. The reveal at the conclusion is that Big Bunny is not a giant but a large helium balloon of the sort seen in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. While this clever conceit is carried out with accessible text, there is a little quibble: the saturation and intentional busyness of the illustrations leaves little rest for new readers’ eyes. The sentences and vocabulary are simple, but finding them on the page is the challenge here.
Big fun for new readers who are ready to turn their Where’s Waldo skills to finding text. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3458-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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