A genuine expression of just how loved and special children are.
Sullivan’s picture book is an ode to a little girl named Dylan.
In a hospital nursery full of newborns, Dylan smiles and winks at her mother and the doctor; she is special, perfect, and precious from the beginning. As Dylan begins learning to walk, she is fearless. When she falls, she gets right back up again, except for one time when she simply looks around, puts her thumb in her mouth, and takes an impromptu nap right there on the floor. As she gets a little older, Dylan indulges in more comical behavior, raiding the kitchen for cake, taking off her shoes and socks and putting her feet on the table at dinner time, and displaying an excellent sense of humor: “On pizza night Dylan always says to her dad, / ‘There’s a mushroom on your head!’ / And when Dad puts his hand up to see if it’s true, / She laughs ’til her cheeks turn red.” Dylan likes splashing in the mud, singing into her toothbrush/microphone in the bathroom, telling bedtime stories to her stuffed animals, and playing tricks on Mom and Dad. Most of all, Dylan loves to make people laugh. Watson’s whimsical cartoon illustrations spotlight Dylan—the other characters appear as shadows, reacting to her antics. Through the illustrations, readers see Dylan grow from a newborn baby to a little girl, showing the passage of time between stages of her development to give context to the action. Sullivan tells Dylan’s story through rhyming poetry. Each quatrain captures a moment in time tenderly and without artifice: “In summertime Dylan likes washing the car, / And she does it like you’ve never seen. / She can only reach up to the door handles, / So just half of the car gets clean!” The limericklike rhythm maintained throughout the book matches the snapshots of Dylan’s spirit. The narrative honors the truest meaning of delight in the way that each adventure begins with something new and unexpected and ends in a smile—an experience loving parents know well.
A genuine expression of just how loved and special children are.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9798891324930
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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