Although the smiling tot going through a familiar bedtime routine begins, “Night-night me and night-night you,” there is no adult present in this sequential, rhyming valediction to everything in sight. There is some superficial resemblance to Goodnight Moon, but the varying perspectives—the child in situ alternates with framed close-ups of such items as pajamas, toothbrush and teddy bear—colors and textures keep the eye from relaxing into slumber. Each page-opening features some tactile element, from furry spots on a giraffe to a flannel blanket to draw over the child, which will assuredly engage babies. It’s a happy depiction of the bedtime journey that ends with the child snoozing in the crib, but whether the babies being read to will go to sleep or not is another matter. (9-18 mos.)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7641-6234-3
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Barron's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2009
1882
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82979-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
For all its brevity, chockablock with philosophical topics to ponder and debate.
In the wake of Triangle (2017), a further raft of ontological posers in stripped-down geometric garb.
Square, an unreflective sort, regards hauling large cubes of rock from the depths of his secret cave to a hilltop every day as his “work.” He is set to a new task, though, after Circle praises him as a “sculptor” and a “genius,” then commissions a portrait. Cluelessly setting to with a hammer and chisel to carve a “perfect” representation of Circle from a stone block, Square is left at the end of the day in the middle of a ring of rubble. Despairingly, he falls asleep as rain begins to fall. Next morning the despair is still there—so when Circle floats up and sees her reflection in the puddle that’s accumulated overnight her response is unexpected: “It is perfect,” she says. “You are a genius.” Barnett’s closing “But was he really?” leaves readers (those who have the appropriate patience and experience, anyway) to judge for themselves. Square’s downcast eyes as he looks at his own reflection in the puddle heighten the ambiguity. With typically deceptive minimalism Klassen places a few flat, blocky shapes on the white pages to suggest the physical landscape, angling Square’s body and glance to convey the emotional one. Humor is in the details: a bit of twig that catches on harried Square’s head and stays there; the shadow that appears beneath Circle as she floats along through the air.
For all its brevity, chockablock with philosophical topics to ponder and debate. (Picture book. 10-adult)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9607-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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