The pictures perfectly capture the message of the book. Readers will both envy Bear’s trove of junk and be very eager to...
Humans are terrible role models for bears.
The title character of this picture book is envious of human beings’ caves, where they store their cars. They’re full of stuff! “My cave will have the most stuff ever!” Big Brown Bear says, and he starts to gather stringed instruments and a rotary phone and a rocking horse. Soon, he’s trapped in a room full of clutter, and his friends have to pull him out, in a lovely echo of Pooh’s adventure with the hunny pot. The moral is both funny and wise, and some readers (particularly those who collect books) will recognize themselves in the main character. But the real appeal of the book is the digital illustrations, because they attract attention by looking just slightly wrong. One bear’s fur is a strange silvery-blue, and the characters’ arms and legs tilt away from their bodies at unlikely angles. The playful anatomy is oddly endearing. If Zommer took it any further, Big Brown Bear might cease to be a bear altogether and turn into a collection of beautiful and surprising shapes, which is entirely appropriate to the theme. And Bear’s pile of stuff looks like a glorious collage, with almost every item a different color.
The pictures perfectly capture the message of the book. Readers will both envy Bear’s trove of junk and be very eager to clean up their own piles of stuff. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9646-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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