This surreal allegory of death’s release will intrigue some readers while puzzling others.
Observed by village children, an elderly man prepares for death in this misty allegory.
Mr. Rodriguez appears outdoors at 4 p.m. daily, communing with a different animal each day: a dove on Monday, a pet fish on Tuesday, an old sheepdog on Wednesday, a lame cat on Thursday. On Friday, a piano appears on the street, and Mr. Rodriguez sits atop it as “a fine melody flowed out to sea.” Mr. Rodriguez levitates slightly above the cobbled streets along with the animals (and piano) he shepherds. On Saturday, Mr. Rodriguez fails to appear. The children rise early on Sunday to discover whether he’s changed his routine. Their curiosity is rewarded: The elder appears on his piano, floating in the air, the animals arrayed around him. “He winked and pointed to the clouds in the distance.” Duchesne adopts a first-person-plural narrative voice in which matter-of-fact declaratives bob against mild speculation and culminate in an unflappable conclusion: “He had gone away, probably forever. But we know he was happy.” Thisdale’s paintings depict a white-presenting Mr. Rodriguez and the coastal village’s mutable sky, cerulean sea, whitewashed buildings, and omnipresent lighthouse. He sometimes duplicates and flips his images of the village’s diverse children. With their precisely lit, unchanging or mirrored facial expressions, these recurring images convey, perhaps unintentionally, a robotic eeriness.
This surreal allegory of death’s release will intrigue some readers while puzzling others. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77278-089-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
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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