In Up the Wall (p. 727), Nicholas Heller depicted a small boy wandering the ceilings; similarly, Keller's ``little Mott Turner'' finds gravity reversed (but only for him) after he emerges from the under (``wrong'') side of the bed. With smoothly rounded forms in vibrant, sophisticated colors and a bold, surreal style, Keller distorts perspectives for a vertiginous feel that recalls the world seen when blood rushes to the head; the popeyed Mott is an appealing, expressively stylized figure who ``falls'' high into the sky before ``what goes up, must come down'' and he lands on the top side of his bed. Heller and Keller make an intriguing pair, each bringing his distinctive style and imagination to a situation guaranteed to amuse kids. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-8478-1471-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rizzoli
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1992
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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The characters in Wood's sunny, simple pen and watercolor illustrations fairly bounce off the page in this exuberant cumulative rhyme. Bloomers-topmost, Silly Sally goes to town ``walking backwards, upside down''; along the way, she meets a silly pig, a silly dog, a silly loon, and a silly sheep—until, finally, Neddy Buttercup (``walking forwards, right side up'') comes along and manages to get the whole crew into town in a frenzy of tickles, grins, and flying limbs. A surefire read-aloud. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-15-274428-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1992
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
On hot summer nights, Amani’s parents permit her to go outside and play in the apartment courtyard, where the breeze is cool and her friends are waiting.
The children jump rope to the sounds of music as it floats through a neighbor’s window, gaze at stars in the night sky, and play hide-and-seek in the moonlight. It is in the moonlight that Amani and her friends are themselves found by the moon, and it illumines the many shades of their skin, which vary from light tan to deep brown. In a world where darkness often evokes ideas of evil or fear, this book is a celebration of things that are dark and beautiful—like a child’s dark skin and the night in which she plays. The lines “Show everyone else how to embrace the night like you. Teach them how to be a night-owning girl like you” are as much an appeal for her to love and appreciate her dark skin as they are the exhortation for Amani to enjoy the night. There is a sense of security that flows throughout this book. The courtyard is safe and homelike. The moon, like an additional parent, seems to be watching the children from the sky. The charming full-bleed illustrations, done in washes of mostly deep blues and greens, make this a wonderful bedtime story.
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55271-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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