A lovely, gentle, and open-ended introduction to the story of the birth of baby Jesus.
A young fox follows other animals into a stable, where he makes a newborn baby smile.
In this understated, beautifully illustrated Nativity story, a little fox is invited to come along on a journey because a baby will be arriving soon. A woodpecker states, “There’s work to be done.” A cow, a lamb, and a bluebird all plan something to give to the baby, but at each invitation, the fox stays behind to play alone in the snow. Even the stars call out to the fox, but he thinks he has nothing to offer to a baby. A kind donkey invites the fox inside the stable: “Just come. It is enough.” The fox creeps up to the manger, holding up his paws; the baby responds by holding out his arms with a smile. A final wordless page shows the fox curled up asleep next to the lamb. Observant readers will notice the fox is playing with an acorn in the snowy scenes, and he does offer his acorn to the newborn child. The baby has pink skin and auburn hair, and he is never named as Jesus. Only the animals are present in this interpretation; the parents of the baby are not included in the scene. Glowing watercolor illustrations in a loose, expressive style capture the antics of the fox and create an exciting environment of starry skies, snowy fields, and a light-filled stable.
A lovely, gentle, and open-ended introduction to the story of the birth of baby Jesus. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93500-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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