Inventive as ever.
Imagine Rumpelstiltskin with an equally imperious twin, and you’d approximate Take and Give, a tiny pair who bedevil a farmer with conflicting advice.
Borrowing motifs and pacing from traditional folklore, Raschka introduces a mild man intent on harvesting apples. First Take emerges, promising a “finer” life. When a neighbor woman offers the farmer some of her pumpkins, Take urges, “Take them. Take all of them. Take as many as you see.” Hauling a voluminous load of pumpkins, the farmer trudges all day at Take’s pointless urging to “take a hike.” Returning home to make the pumpkin soup the neighbor had suggested, the exhausted fellow realizes that he and his dog both dislike it. Next morning, having banished Take, the farmer picks a second tree, only to be visited by Give, who promises a “sweeter” life. Give similarly beleaguers the farmer, making him relinquish all his apples to a pig farmer. The third harvest day, the tiny duo’s argumentative wrestling sparks new ideas for the farmer. He gives the miller apples and takes some flour, and soon, a happy ending (and a lovely pie) is shared by all. Raschka’s customary thick, dry, brushy black shapes and contours dominate a rather somber palette of gray, red, teal and orange. This marriage of a well-told, folklore-reminiscent tale, dynamic line and muted palette evoke the 1950s-era work of Paul Galdone and Nicolas Mordvinoff.
Inventive as ever. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-1655-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.
Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.
There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781400247417
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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