Balancing city and country scenes, this is a collection of opposites, both stated and unstated. The city features neon lights, traffic, tall buildings, people, and shopping, while the country is filled with nature, houses, few people, picnics, and children playing outdoors. Two large words and an ampersand on each page are the only text, but even this sometimes get lost on the busy pages, as not all of them are against solid backgrounds. The format of the book varies, beginning with easily discernible splits between top and bottom, and left and right. It gradually progresses to spreads that feature a complete set of opposites on both pages, as well as spreads divided into fourths that mix and match opposites. Several of the pairs are rather difficult to portray pictorially—“back & forth,” “to & fro,” “hello & good-bye”—and children will have difficulty determining the action in these pages. In addition, the very first pair, the stereotypically urban north and rural south, are on a page split in half . . . south is on top, and north is on the bottom. The softly-colored illustrations are the strong points, filled with minute details such as the spider web hanging from the rural mail box, and the subway grating and trash cans peculiar to the city. The same young girl is featured throughout, pictured with her father in the city scenes, her mother in the country. Unfortunately, Bernhard’s second foray into the world of opposites is less successful than her first (Earth, Sky, Wet, Dry, 2000). (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8027-8782-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children.
On hot summer nights, Amani’s parents permit her to go outside and play in the apartment courtyard, where the breeze is cool and her friends are waiting.
The children jump rope to the sounds of music as it floats through a neighbor’s window, gaze at stars in the night sky, and play hide-and-seek in the moonlight. It is in the moonlight that Amani and her friends are themselves found by the moon, and it illumines the many shades of their skin, which vary from light tan to deep brown. In a world where darkness often evokes ideas of evil or fear, this book is a celebration of things that are dark and beautiful—like a child’s dark skin and the night in which she plays. The lines “Show everyone else how to embrace the night like you. Teach them how to be a night-owning girl like you” are as much an appeal for her to love and appreciate her dark skin as they are the exhortation for Amani to enjoy the night. There is a sense of security that flows throughout this book. The courtyard is safe and homelike. The moon, like an additional parent, seems to be watching the children from the sky. The charming full-bleed illustrations, done in washes of mostly deep blues and greens, make this a wonderful bedtime story.
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55271-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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