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WHAT IF EVERYBODY SAID THAT?

Name: WHAT IF EVERYBODY SAID THAT?
Author: Ellen Javernick
ISBN: 978-1-5039-4895-2

From the What If Everybody? series

by Ellen Javernick ; illustrated by Colleen Madden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2018

A reminder to be aware of what one says, as well as a discussion starter about actions and consequences.

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A tiny tot learns that words can hurt.

One sassy girl is pictured in 10 different scenarios—each ending with a disappointed adult asking, “What if everybody said that?” These include making fun of someone else’s fashion sense, not sharing, pushing to be first, excluding someone from playground fun, quitting when your team is losing, etc. While the titular questions are different, the concept is very similar to Javernick and Madden’s previous outing (What If Everybody Did That?, 2010), although this venture does portray more inner turmoil than the earlier, with bubbles of victims’ hurt feelings and damaging thoughts. Even the simplest of words can strongly affect others. Madden’s mixed-media illustrations show a large, diverse cast, including men of color in nurturing roles and a child in a wheelchair who, unfortunately, does not appear after an early scene. Among other humorous details, frowning faces are hidden on inanimate objects, and even dogs and cats give judging looks to atrocious behavior. After a string of missteps, the misguided gal does realize the error of her ways, and all ends well. The protagonist has blue eyes, black hair, and light brown skin and is surrounded by a supporting cast of many races and ethnicities.

A reminder to be aware of what one says, as well as a discussion starter about actions and consequences. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5039-4895-2

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Two Lions

Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT IF EVERYBODY THOUGHT THAT?
by Ellen Javernick ; illustrated by Colleen M. Madden

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT IF EVERYBODY DID THAT?
by Ellen Javernick and illustrated by Colleen M. Madden

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIRTHDAY PET
by Ellen Javernick ; illustrated by Kevin O'Malley

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)