An amiable story of a joyful child.
Sullivan’s illustrated, rhyming children’s book tells the story of a young girl thoroughly enjoying her everyday life.
As this story opens, Lilah wonders how to spend her time, as “There are so many things I can do with my day.” She knows she must start with a good breakfast of her favorite foods: yogurt and fruit. Afterward, Lilah catches a butterfly in her mother’s garden, and her kindness toward the insect shines: “ ‘You’re so beautiful,’ she said, ‘but I’m setting you free. You belong to everyone, that’s the way it should be.’ ” Lilah plays hopscotch, pretends to be a ballerina, plays T-ball, flies a kite, and teases her dog by pretending to throw a ball while playing fetch: “ ‘I have it right here!’ she said, ‘I didn’t throw it!’ Then she giggled and laughed because the dog didn’t know it.” Eventually, her day winds down. She tries to work on a jigsaw puzzle but begins to fall asleep; she goes to bed and dreams about her day, looking forward to tomorrow and thinking “it’s great to be alive!” Over the course of this tale, Sullivan presents simple text with easy rhymes. It is a story that is certain to appeal to an audience of young readers, with sentiments that are consistently joyful and uplifting in tone. Lilah’s adventures may inspire readers to also enjoy the simple things in life to the fullest. Watson’s cartoon illustrations are simple, fun, and colorful; Lilah is depicted with bright-yellow skin, a pink nose, and orange-flushed cheeks. Watson’s images support the events of the text nicely; a two-page illustration of Lilah running through the sprinkler is particularly notable.
An amiable story of a joyful child.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2022
ISBN: 9781639886111
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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