Some songs don’t make good books. This is one of them.
A little girl has a goldfish named Sal, who gives her special kisses.
The book opens with endpapers filled with bubbles and musical notes and concludes with endpapers that add sea horses, sax-playing turtles, a brown-skinned mermaid (who might resemble the book’s celebrity author), and the brown-skinned protagonist-as-mermaid, dancing with Sal. Wearing her hair in a big, maroon afro puff, the child takes Sal everywhere and is rewarded with Sal’s “bub-bub-bub-bub-bubble kiss[es].” Williams’ verse can best be described as pedestrian: “She can’t roar like a lion, bark like a dog, / scratch like a cat, or jump like a frog, // run like a deer, or do a hummingbird hover. / But here’s the reason that I really love her.” In the realistic parts of the story, the girl wears pants and a shirt, but in the fantasy scenes, she has a mermaid’s tail and she and Sal meet merpeople. In the colorful but generic illustrations, both adult and child merpeople have varying-colored skin and tails, but with identically shaped eyes and facial features, this offers only a veneer of racial diversity. The ending paints the underwater portion as a dream. Ironically, despite the monotonous refrain about bubble kisses, Whitaker never illustrates the fish and girl smooching, which raises the question: What, exactly, are bubble kisses? Though unavailable for review, a music CD of the song accompanies this book.
Some songs don’t make good books. This is one of them. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3834-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Roller-coaster enthusiasts or not, children will eagerly join our intrepid hero on this entertaining ride.
The Pigeon is on an emotional—and physical—roller coaster.
Since learning about the existence of roller coasters, he’s become giddy with excitement. The Pigeon prepares mentally: He’ll need a ticket and “exemplary patience” to wait in line. He envisions zooming up and down and careening through dizzying turns and loops. Then, he imagines his emotions afterward: exhilaration, post-ride blues, pride at having accomplished such a feat, and enthusiasm at the prospect of riding again. (He’ll also feel dizzy and nauseous.) All this before the Pigeon ever sets claw on an actual coaster. So…will he really try it? Are roller coasters fun? When the moment comes, everything seems to go according to plan: waiting in line, settling into the little car, THEN—off he goes! Though the ride itself isn’t quite what the Pigeon expected, it will delight readers. Wearing his feelings on his wing and speaking directly to the audience in first person, the Pigeon describes realistic thoughts and emotions about waiting and guessing about the unknown—common childhood experiences. No sentiment is misplaced; kids will relate to Pigeon’s eagerness and apprehension. The ending falls somewhat flat, but the whole humorous point is that an underwhelming adventure can still be thrilling enough to warrant repeating. Willems’ trademark droll illustrations will have readers giggling. The roller-coaster attendant is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Roller-coaster enthusiasts or not, children will eagerly join our intrepid hero on this entertaining ride. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4549-4686-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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