by Tilde Michels ; illustrated by Reinhard Michl ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2016
Quiet and nifty.
A sudden snowstorm leaves forest animals out in the cold.
Peter’s small house sits “all draped in white.” He’s snug in bed in his white nightshirt when he hears a knock at the door. “Please let me in,” a voice cries. “I’m f-f-freezing!” Peter, a large white man with red hair and mustache, finds a hare out in the snow and invites him in. After getting dressed, Peter fills the stove with wood and gets a nice fire going. Both are nodding off when there’s another knock at the door. It’s the fox, frozen from top to toe. The hare pleads with Peter to ignore the fox. “Foxes have a nasty habit / Of eating things that look like rabbit.” Fox promises to be good, and Peter lets him in. One more creature disturbs their slumber, a big brown bear. Peter plays peacemaker, and all settle down to sleep as the storm rages outside. Next morning, all is clear, and the animals venture back into the forest, one by one, before Peter awakens. Tracks in the snow tell him this wasn’t a dream. Michels’ verse feels easy; Michl depicts animals with care, and Peter looks like a Maurice Sendak child all grown up. The story is a bit thin, but the book captures a wintry mood and is handsomely designed; each double-page spread has a beautiful, white-bordered illustration on one side and ample white space for a small vignette and a stanza or two on the other.
Quiet and nifty. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-76036-011-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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More by Tilde Michels
BOOK REVIEW
by Tilde Michels & illustrated by Thomas Müller
by Kobi Yamada ; illustrated by Mae Besom ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2016
A straightforward, effective approach to helping children cope with one of life’s commonplace yet emotionally fraught...
A child struggles with the worry and anxiety that come with an unexpected problem.
In a wonderful balance of text and pictures, the team responsible for What Do You Do With an Idea (2014) returns with another book inspiring children to feel good about themselves. A child frets about a problem that won’t go away: “I wished it would just disappear. I tried everything I could to hide from it. I even found ways to disguise myself. But it still found me.” The spare, direct narrative is accompanied by soft gray illustrations in pencil and watercolor. The sepia-toned figure of the child is set apart from the background and surrounded by lots of white space, visually isolating the problem, which is depicted as a purple storm cloud looming overhead. Color is added bit by bit as the storm cloud grows and its color becomes more saturated. With a backpack and umbrella, the child tries to escape the problem while the storm swirls, awash with compass points scattered across the pages. The pages brighten into splashes of yellow as the child decides to tackle the problem head-on and finds that it holds promise for unlooked-for opportunity.
A straightforward, effective approach to helping children cope with one of life’s commonplace yet emotionally fraught situations, this belongs on the shelf alongside Molly Bang’s Sophie books. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-943-20000-9
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
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by Kobi Yamada ; illustrated by Adelina Lirius
BOOK REVIEW
by Kobi Yamada ; illustrated by Charles Santoso
BOOK REVIEW
by Kobi Yamada ; illustrated by Elise Hurst
by Jenna Beatrice ; illustrated by Erika Lynne Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2023
This tale of an aspiring librarian is ideal for all kinds of storytimes.
A vocal girl finds her vocation.
A diverse class of 12 youngsters finds out that Penelope, a Black girl with glasses and a barrette, will be the next student-librarian. Her classmate Angela, who drew a “Quiet Please” sign in anticipation, looks horrified by this choice, an interesting hint at conflict that goes unaddressed. Penelope has practiced for this role all year, working on her alphabetization skills and cementing her status as a book lover. Unfortunately, she also has a shockingly loud voice and struggles with impulse control, and her brief stint in the library is marked by fallen books, startled students, and a sudden domino effect when shock waves from her voice knock over an entire bookshelf. Penelope decides that her skills are better spent in outdoor storytime, and the book indicates that she keeps trying in the library. In real life, children’s and elementary school libraries usually aren’t as quiet as adult spaces, and this book could bolster the stereotype of the ideal librarian as sedate and shush-y. It’s also unclear whether Paige Turner Library is connected to Penelope’s school or a stand-alone building, raising some logistical questions. But this would be fun to read aloud, especially to a group of library lovers, and the bright, blocky illustrations are pitch-perfect for the tone. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This tale of an aspiring librarian is ideal for all kinds of storytimes. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781665910545
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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