A book to return to over a broad range of ages.
A set of wordless images invites browsers to wonder and speculate about the natural world.
Beginning and ending with a pair of birds who meet, build a nest, and raise a family, Hegbrook’s finely crafted paintings, placed singly or in groups with ample spacing on a page or spread, portray a wide variety of natural scenes. They depict both plants and animals in action in their likely habitats, over time, and in a wide variety of places. The creatures pictured in this oversized album are recognizable even when exactly what they are doing isn’t clear. (The last pages provide explanations accompanying small reproductions of each spread.) Some images are obvious: a giraffe stretches its neck to reach leaves on a branch and another spreads its legs, leaning over for a drink. More usually the stories depend on prior knowledge: there’s a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a colorful butterfly. Some turn out to require information the picture can’t convey: an owl appears to catch and then drop a lizard. The endnotes explain, “a fire salamander releases poison from his pores to fend off a predator,” the kind of alarming detail young naturalists appreciate. Small type opposite the title page offers steps for appreciation of this unusual title: observe, inquire, wonder. Twice the author asks, “What do you think?”
A book to return to over a broad range of ages. (Picture book. 3-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944530-01-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
A sweet, if oft-told, story.
A plush toy rabbit bonds with a boy and watches him grow into adulthood.
The boy receives the blue bunny for his birthday and immediately becomes attached to it. Unbeknownst to him, the ungendered bunny is sentient; it engages in dialogue with fellow toys, giving readers insight into its thoughts. The bunny's goal is to have grand adventures when the boy grows up and no longer needs its company. The boy spends many years playing imaginatively with the bunny, holding it close during both joyous and sorrowful times and taking it along on family trips. As a young man, he marries, starts a family, and hands over the beloved toy to his toddler-aged child in a crib. The bunny's epiphany—that he does not need to wait for great adventures since all his dreams have already come true in the boy's company—is explicitly stated in the lengthy text, which is in many ways similar to The Velveteen Rabbit (1922). The illustrations, which look hand-painted but were digitally created, are moderately sentimental with an impressionistic dreaminess (one illustration even includes a bunny-shaped cloud in the sky) and a warm glow throughout. The depiction of a teenage male openly displaying his emotions—hugging his beloved childhood toy for example—is refreshing. All human characters present as White expect for one of the boy’s friends who is Black.
A sweet, if oft-told, story. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72825-448-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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