Newbery Medalist Rylant and Goode collaborate again for the first time since their Caldecott Honor Book, When I Was Young in the Mountains (1982). This offering also explores the experiences of a little girl who leads an old-fashioned life in a cozy home with her grandparents (as did Rylant for several years of her childhood). In first-person narrative, the unnamed little girl and her grandparents prepare for a traditional but simple Christmas: putting up lights, decorating the tree, attending church, opening a few presents early Christmas morning, and welcoming guests for Christmas dinner. Goode’s loose watercolor-and-ink illustrations help create a cheery, comfortable home in which the little girl is tenderly loved and cared for. The child knows that Christmas will unfold each year in just the same ways with the predictability of family tradition that all children love. The setting and time period are not specified: somewhere in a place with hills and lots of snow and tolerance for an integrated community, as the family attends an integrated church and includes African-American friends in their Christmas dinner plans. The time period could be anywhere from the 1930s to the ’50s, but it’s definitely a much calmer and simpler time when a quiet, meaningful Christmas was within everyone’s reach. A serene and soothing look at the holiday, just right to share with a child while sipping cocoa and nibbling Christmas cookies. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-439-07334-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Lola’s daddy takes her to the library every Saturday, where she finds “excellent books,” and every night her mommy or daddy reads them to her. The next day Lola acts out the story. On Sunday she’s a fairy princess; on Monday she takes her toy animals “on fantastic trips to places like Paris”; on Wednesday she’s a tiger, etc. Each new book and day provides Lola with a variety of tales to play out, with the last one—which is about a wild monster—posing the question, “What will Lola be tomorrow?” The final page shows her in a wolf suit just like Max’s. The library books, the pretending and the incorporation of the days of the week work together as a simple and pleasing premise. Beardshaw’s acrylic illustrations depict the multicultural kids and Lola’s black family with childlike charm, while the title will have librarians, parents and booksellers smiling. Alert: The book will be an invitation for lap kids to follow Lola’s lead—not such a bad thing. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-258-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
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