Readers will love it to the moon and back.
Life is not fair on Earth, so Sophia runs away to the moon.
When young Sophia is put in timeout, she decides to head for the moon. Leaving a note for her mom, she boards a rocket with her cat, Mr. Wubbles. In letters home to her mom, Sophia shares all the great things about the moon: a new friend they’ve made, riding moonicorns, having no bedtime, and eating starlight soup. Her mom writes letters back, making subtle comments trying to convince Sophia to come home. She tells Sophia she’s making cookies, then she offers the cows that jump over the moon Sophia’s bed to sleep in, and finally she invites Grorg, a moon runaway, to have spaghetti and stay the night. Sophia eventually invites her mom to bring Grorg back to the moon, thinking he might be moonsick, leading to a happy reunion. Related exclusively in the series of letters between Sophia and her mom, this is a gentle, even adorable reminder for children that their parent still loves them even if they yell. Song’s illustrations, figures drawn with her characteristically thick, smudgy black line, add a bounty of extra details to the story, especially in the pictures of Sophia’s mom at home, with glimpses into Sophia’s room. The gentle, pastel colors of the moon add to the sweetness of this mother-daughter reconciliation story. Mom and daughter both have tan skin and straight, black hair; Sophia’s eyebrows are fabulously emphatic.
Readers will love it to the moon and back. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-02285-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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