Parents seeking ways to discuss a loved one’s death with their children should find this touching tale, with its analogy of...
A boy finds a way to deal with his beloved grandfather’s death when he sees two birds separated on the subway in this debut picture book.
The difference between an unnamed child’s summers with his grandfather in a small Texas town and daily life in the city is huge. When the boy visits Pop, it’s his job to help load the delivery truck; after work, the two eat lunch at a cafe together. They are so much alike that the waitress calls them “birds of a feather.” After Pop dies, the boy goes to the funeral, but he knows it’s not his grandfather in the casket “because he didn’t smile at me once.” Angry, hurt, and sad, the boy doesn’t know how to cope with his grief until he sees two birds trapped on the subway. When the pair become separated at different stops, he identifies with the one still on the train, recognizing her fear and the loneliness in himself. After she escapes, he wonders how she will cope—but realizes that even if she can’t find her mate, life is still a big adventure. Crice captures the complexity of a child’s feelings with expert precision, taking a tough experience and exploring it with honesty, never flinching from the hard emotions. The soft-colored pencil and acrylic images by debut illustrator Rakatansky—which mostly show landscapes, cityscapes, and animals—match the story’s gentle tone perfectly.
Parents seeking ways to discuss a loved one’s death with their children should find this touching tale, with its analogy of lost birds, useful in grappling with a difficult topic.Pub Date: May 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9996853-0-3
Page Count: 27
Publisher: DoveTale Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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