Ideal for starting discussions about promises and expressing motherly love.
A wise mother bear teaches her cub all about promises as they enjoy a day spent together.
When Baby Bear asks Mother Bear to sing to him, she tells him, “Later….I promise!” This leads him to ask what “promise” means. In Mother Bear’s voice, McPhail proves he is a genius in communicating at a child’s level in simple language: “A promise is when you say you will do something…and then do your very best to do it.” But Baby Bear isn’t finished with his questions. What if you don’t do it? “Then it becomes a broken promise.” Can it be fixed? “Not easily….That’s why it’s so important to keep it.” From this conversation, Baby Bear realizes that when he says he will play with a friend, he needs to follow through or it may hurt his friend’s feelings. And when Baby Bear asks what else his mother promises him, she tells him of all the things a mother gives to and hopes for her child: good food to eat, time spent together, and especially her love, forever and always. McPhail’s full-bleed spreads are done in pen and ink and watercolor in blues, greens, and browns and show the gentle love of the bears for each other and also their enjoyment of the natural world: waterfall, river, meadow, forest, apple orchard.
Ideal for starting discussions about promises and expressing motherly love. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-29787-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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