A bit touristy and perplexing in its lesson but cheerfully enjoyable—and worth it for that northern lights spread.
A polar bears searches for colors beyond white.
Bear lives “at the top of the world,” which is made of white ice and white snow. The animals, including whales, are white or light gray (though all have faintly pink cheeks); even the ocean’s light gray. Bear yearns for colors. A sea gull requests help from a brown-skinned, round-faced girl with straight dark hair who lives elsewhere (readers never learn where). She collects Bear in a skiff and takes him traveling. They see a Dutch windmill, the Blue Mosque, the Taj Mahal, and much more. Countries and sights aren’t named, though the copyright page lists them. Pages show a white background behind irregularly shaped travel scenes; each page’s scenes emphasize one hue. As pages turn, the scene-shapes shift through the rainbow spectrum, quenching Bear’s color thirst. Kono’s premise is more trope than truth, because the real Arctic has many hues. A confusing moral appears. Supposedly the Arctic “always had” colors, and Bear had “just needed to learn how to see them,” but the only new Arctic-environment colors to appear—not Bear’s (new) paintings nor the illustrations’ confettilike decoration—are the northern lights; they appear in one gorgeous, stunning spread, and it’s hard to believe that Bear’s never seen them before.
A bit touristy and perplexing in its lesson but cheerfully enjoyable—and worth it for that northern lights spread. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4132-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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