Simply lovely.
A little boy’s picture of a tiger comes to amazing life.
At the art gallery, Tom watches the tiger in a jungle painting full of lush green foliage. “And the tiger watches Tom.” At home, Tom uses crayons to draw a big tiger with “pointy teeth” and “green-jewel eyes.” In the shadows in his bedroom that night, Tom sees the eyes, twitching whiskers, and swishing tail, and he holds his breath. The tiger gets very close—and invites Tom to go for a walk. “Climb up. Hold tight.” They pad into the gleaming jungle, where “they see foxes and bears and even a lion” and play hide-and-seek. When they reach the river, the tiger helps Tom get over his fear of swimming. On the other side is a fair “high above the world and close to the stars.” Next, the tiger takes Tom down to a cave lined with walls of ice, where snow tigers love to dance. Everyone dances until Tom grows weary. He snuggles against the tiger and falls asleep, realizing he’s no longer afraid. Through her precise text, Hofmeyr espouses the joy of imagination and the power of art to stimulate it. The afterword discusses Henri Rousseau’s Surprised!, the painting that inspired the story; Hodgson’s elegant, softly textured colored-pencil illustrations both do it justice and ensure that the tiger never overwhelms readers. Tom has olive skin and straight black hair.
Simply lovely. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-91095-941-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Otter-Barry
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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