An invalidating and tactless lesson about coping with the sudden loss of a friend.
A squirrel and a snowman cherish their friendship and hope it will last forever in this Belgian/Dutch import.
When Squirrel sees a shivering, sobbing snowman alone in the cold, she gathers scarves and blankets with the other forest animals to keep him warm. Her act of kindness begins a friendship full of fun that inspires the whole forest to join their play. However, the snow starts melting as the “days fly by,” and Squirrel’s best friend disappears, too. All the forest animals experience the loss. Collagelike illustrations cover every spread with whimsical, wintry scenes, leaving no white space apart from the snow. DeLange foreshadows the snowman’s inevitable demise with warmer weather, so his melting arrives naturally, but the resolution afterward is abrupt and offers hollow closure. Owl’s words of comfort (the concluding lines of the book) dismiss Squirrel’s feelings about the loss of her best friend with the platitude “Don’t be sad”: Snowman lives on in the flowers, leaves, and hearts of his friends. Bright spring colors in the background correspond with this tone of forced positivity. The story introduces no twists or surprises to the “melting snowman” trope. While the celebration of friendship and kindness is sweet, the treatment of Squirrel’s grief gives the story’s overall message an insensitive ring.
An invalidating and tactless lesson about coping with the sudden loss of a friend. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60537-449-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
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Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school...
The familiar theme of the challenges facing a new kid in town is given an original treatment by photographer Border in this book of photos of three-dimensional objects in a simple modeled landscape.
Peanut Butter is represented by a slice of white bread spread with the popular condiment. The other characters in the story—a hamburger with a pair of hot dogs in tow, a bowl of alphabet soup, a meatball jumping a rope of spaghetti, a carton of French fries and a pink cupcake—are represented by skillfully crafted models of these foods, anthropomorphized using simple wire construction. Rejected by each character in turn in his search for playmates, Peanut Butter discovers in the end that Jelly is his true match (not Cupcake, as the title suggests), perhaps because she is the only one who looks like him, being a slice of white bread spread with jelly. The friendly foods end up happily playing soccer together. Some parents may have trouble with the unabashedly happy depiction of carbs and American junk food (no carrots or celery sticks in this landscape), and others may find themselves troubled by the implication that friendship across difference is impossible.
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16773-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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
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