Understatedly funny, just like the Eastern European folk tales on whose shoulders it stands.
Knitters will find their niches and click their needles—wherever.
An old woman is sitting on her rocking chair with many balls of yarn at her feet. Cold weather is approaching, and sweaters must be knit for her many children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, those young ones are enchanted with those balls of yarn as playthings. They skip rope, play ball, and leave the old woman quite exasperated. She cleans house, packs her bags, and leaves her small Russian village shouting “Leave me alone!” Alas, she discovers that the woods are not the ideal spot for knitting, and neither are the mountains or even the moon. Finally, she discovers the perfect place for her knits and purls, finally returning home and happily outfitting the many little ones. A crowded house, bears in the forest, goats on the mountain, and little green ETs on the moon all lead to an unexpectedly scientific—or perhaps science-fiction—conclusion. Brosgol’s folkloric tale is full of humor and repetition, making it a good choice to read aloud. Her colorfully animated figures, all white except for those ETs on the moon, stand out against the white pages. This contrasts well with her eventual place of seclusion (spoiler alert: a wormhole), where the figures are outlined in white against a black background.
Understatedly funny, just like the Eastern European folk tales on whose shoulders it stands. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62672-441-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
A delightfully silly celebration of familial love.
A child in search of the best hugger takes a bedtime tour of the world’s most unusual embraces.
In the opening pages of this rhyming picture book, an unnamed narrator asks a curly-haired, tan-skinned child who they think gives the best hugs. At the narrator’s behest, the protagonist spends their bedtime routine receiving affection from a wacky cast of creatures, ranging from meerkats to porcupines to narwhals. These animals have a variety of body types, but even those with a lack of limbs still express their love; the seahorse, for example, gives the child a “smooch” right before bathtime, and a grinning cobra offers the child a “clinch,” wrapping itself around their leg. Although many of the animals prove to be more prickly than cozy—the narrator points out, for example, the sharpness of bird beaks and porcupine quills—even the snuggliest koalas and bears cannot compare to the best hug of all: a parent’s embrace right before bedtime. The use of second-person address combined with the protagonist’s beautifully illustrated facial expressions and the buoyant, clever lines of verse render this book a hilarious and whimsical ride sure to delight both children and the adults who read to them. The pictures and text work together to create a clear narrative arc for the protagonist, and though the ending is a bit predictable, it’s nevertheless a wonderful payoff. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A delightfully silly celebration of familial love. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5476-1236-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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BOOK REVIEW
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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BOOK REVIEW
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