An uplifting story featuring a child with big dreams and playful, responsive parenting.
A loving father supports his son’s desire to soar among the stars.
Joe’s bedroom shows the signs of a budding astronomer/determined engineer: a toy rocket, a solar system mobile, a sketchbook of transport ideas. His buddies laugh at him: “In your dreams!” His dad, however, suggests they “have a think” when he finishes hanging the laundry on the clothesline. The mixed-media scenes of this close-knit pair exude cozy, comfortable warmth on a fall day. They are both pale-skinned and sport black hair. They work on flight plans and implementation together; risk-taking is not impeded by another adult in the home. Dad catches his son when he falls from a tree and propels the cardboard rocket ferrying Joe from a homemade seesaw into a leaf pile. Almond’s trim text—with enough repetition and simplicity to engage emerging readers—leaves space for Smith’s narrative contributions. As the duo keeps trying (a trampoline, taped-on wings, a cannon), the fun grows. When his father asks if Joe is ready to give up, it’s now the protagonist who says, “In your dreams.” And that is how they eventually achieve their goal. After painting a marvelous skyscape, father and son fall asleep and, in their dreams, they “danced among the stars.” The palette has shifted from warm compositions to cool midnight blues.
An uplifting story featuring a child with big dreams and playful, responsive parenting. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781536231250
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet notion that falls flat.
A hit song reimagined as a book about parental love.
Featured in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1, Perri’s “A Thousand Years” deals with the speaker’s fear of romantic love. In picture-book form, it explores a parent’s unwavering love for a child, who grows from an infant into a toddler over the course of the narrative. The caregiver expresses awe when the youngster learns to stand and fear that the child might fall while beginning to walk. “I have spent every day waiting for you,” the parent says. “Darling, don’t be afraid.” What the child might fear isn’t clear from the joyful balloon- and rainbow-filled illustrations. The story borders on cloying, and words that might work when sung and accompanied by music don’t sound fresh on the page: “Time goes by. / You grow ever stronger as you fly.” The refrain, however, is a lovely sentiment: “I have loved you for a thousand years. / I’ll love you for a thousand more.” Perri’s legion of fans may flock to this version, illustrated by Ruiz with sparkling stars, bubbles, and big-eyed toddlers, but it doesn’t hold together as a narrative or an ode, as it’s billed, and it’s a long way from the original song. The child is tan-skinned, the parent is lighter-skinned, and other characters are diverse.
A sweet notion that falls flat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622599
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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
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