The short and rhyming text, along with its colorful illustrations, makes this book a great read-aloud for robot or pajama...
A tricksy and playful rhyming robot bedtime story that will power down the little ones.
As nighttime approaches, a little boy gathers his three little robots to take them to bed. He guides them through his pre-bedtime routine of tooth-brushing, toilet use, and bathing, and then they stroll toward the bedroom. Once they are tucked into bed, the room is finally silent and the text reads, “Quiet at last, not a peep. Three little robots are...”—but then the page turns, and “BEEP! BEEP!” Throughout the night those words are constantly repeated as the boy tries mightily to find new ways to make his three little robots fall asleep. Tarpley’s rhymes and wordplay will drive children to join in. The watercolors and digital painting used by Rocco bring life to the characters and help convey both the energy of the unruly robots and the boy’s frustration while he struggles to get his robots to sleep. It’s interesting to note that here the protagonist works out his sleeplessness through his robots instead of stuffed toys, as in many other picture books, showcasing the influence of technology on today’s bedtime routines.
The short and rhyming text, along with its colorful illustrations, makes this book a great read-aloud for robot or pajama storytimes as well as bedtime lap reading. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-25443-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Skip it
This book wants to be feminist.
Princess Penelope Pineapple, illustrated as a white girl with dark hair and eyes, is the Amelia Bloomer of the Pineapple Kingdom. She has dresses, but she prefers to wear pants as she engages in myriad activities ranging from yoga to gardening, from piloting a plane to hosting a science fair. When it’s time for the Pineapple Ball, she imagines wearing a sparkly pants outfit, but she worries about Grand Lady Busyboots’ disapproval: “ ‘Pants have no place on a lady!’ she’d say. / ‘That’s how it has been, and that’s how it shall stay.’ ” In a moment of seeming dissonance between the text and art, Penny seems to resolve to wear pants, but then she shows up to the ball in a gown. This apparent contradiction is resolved when the family cat, Miss Fussywiggles, falls from the castle into the moat and Princess Penelope saves her—after stripping off her gown to reveal pink, flowered swimming trunks and a matching top. Impressed, Grand Lady Busyboots resolves that princesses can henceforth wear whatever they wish. While seeing a princess as savior rather than damsel in distress may still seem novel, it seems a stretch to cast pants-wearing as a broadly contested contemporary American feminist issue. Guthrie and Oppenheim’s unimaginative, singsong rhyme is matched in subtlety by Byrne’s bright illustrations.
Skip it . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2603-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Though this celebration of community is joyful, there just is not much here.
A sugary poem, very loosely based on the familiar song, lacks focus.
Using only the refrain from the original (“One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel all right!”), the reggae great’s daughter Cedella Marley sees this song as her “happy song” and adapts it for children. However, the adaptation robs it of life. After the opening lines, readers familiar with the original song (or the tourism advertisement for Jamaica) will be humming along only to be stopped by the bland lines that follow: “One love, what the flower gives the bee.” and then “One love, what Mother Earth gives the tree.” Brantley-Newton’s sunny illustrations perfectly reflect the saccharine quality of the text. Starting at the beginning of the day, readers see a little girl first in bed, under a photograph of Bob Marley, the sun streaming into her room, a bird at the window. Each spread is completely redundant—when the text is about family love, the illustration actually shows little hearts floating from her parents to the little girl. An image of a diverse group getting ready to plant a community garden, walking on top of a river accompanies the words “One love, like the river runs to the sea.”
Though this celebration of community is joyful, there just is not much here. (afterword) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0224-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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