by Davide Calì ; illustrated by Marco Somà ; translated by Laura Watkinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2017
A melancholy contemporary folk tale.
An Italian import confronts questions of identity, belonging, and family.
The story begins with a folkloric sensibility as it introduces a white couple who “had given up hope that they would ever have any” children. They find a “newborn” child in a swamp and ignore his unusual appearance, including gills, large eyes, and, instead of hair, the watercolor-and-ink illustrations add spiky appendages that look like sea anemones atop his head. In an initially troubling turn for a fantasy positioning itself as an adoption allegory, the couple decides it doesn’t matter whether the baby’s parents abandoned him or died; they simply name him Boris and take him home. Boris grows up happily enough, but the titular call of the swamp beckons, and he leaves home to reconnect with the swamp. He communes with creatures who, though realistic animals, look something like him, and he delights in his swampy surroundings. His compassionate parents, in gestures that belie their initial insensitivity, leave notes reading “If you’re happy where you are, then we’re happy too.” But—“How much are we really like those who look like us?” Boris wonders as he begins to feel there’s nowhere he belongs and notices differences between himself and the swamp creatures. An affecting, emotional open ending concludes the story, resisting a happily-ever-after tone as Boris departs to reunite with his parents.
A melancholy contemporary folk tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5486-5
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
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
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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