Distinctive and occasionally elegant, this might encourage children to offer their own meditations on how the natural world...
A collection of poetic sentences invites listeners to observe, celebrate, and sometimes follow natural environments in specific ways.
“Make the EARTH your companion. Walk lightly on it, as other creatures do.” Here, graceful and elegant stylized forms of several familiar animals (rhinoceros, seal, elephant, tiger, horse) prance across the rounded edge of the planet against a deep red-orange sky. A double-page spread illustrating “Learn from the SEA how to face harsh forces” shows a sailing vessel like Odysseus’ traversing dark waves under which a variety of teaming and slightly menacing sea creatures gathers. The colors throughout are intriguingly unusual, characterized by subdued hues: reds, purples, and grays. The solemn tone gives way to whimsy with this nod to lightheartedness: “Save some small piece of GRASSLAND for a red kite on a windy day,” as a young white girl is carried aloft by a flying red heart. Some openings work better than others. Unlike the pages before it, “See the ICECAPS glisten with crystalline majesty” offers little more than what is stated. Human figures throughout are abstract and diminutive. Facial features are indistinct, so the use of white silhouettes seems to imply that many to most of the humans depicted are white.
Distinctive and occasionally elegant, this might encourage children to offer their own meditations on how the natural world informs ways to live. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-56846-269-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
A lushly illustrated homage to librarians who provide a welcome and a home away from home for all who enter.
A love letter to libraries.
A Black child, with hair in two puffballs tied with yellow ribbons, a blue dress with a Peter Pan collar, and black patent leather Mary Janes, helps Grandmother with the housework, then, at Grandmother’s suggestion, heads to the library. The child’s eagerness to go, with two books under an arm and one in their hand, suggests that this is a favorite destination. The books’ wordless covers emphasize their endless possibilities. The protagonist’s description of the library makes clear that they are always free to be themselves there—whether they feel happy or sad, whether they’re reading mysteries or recipes, and whether they feel “quick and smart” or “contained and cautious.” Robinson’s vibrant, carefully composed digital illustrations, with bright colors that invite readers in and textures and patterns in every image, effectively capture the protagonist’s passion for reading and appreciation for a space where they feel accepted regardless of disposition. In her author’s note, Giovanni states that she spent summers visiting her grandmother in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she went to the Carnegie Branch of the Lawson McGhee Library. She expresses gratitude for Mrs. Long, the librarian, who often traveled to the main library to get books that Giovanni could not find in their segregated branch. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A lushly illustrated homage to librarians who provide a welcome and a home away from home for all who enter. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-358-38765-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Versify/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems.
Rhyming poems introduce children to anthropomorphized trucks of all sorts, as well as the jobs that they do.
Adorable multiethnic children are the drivers of these 16 trucks—from construction equipment to city trucks, rescue vehicles and a semi—easily standing in for readers, a point made very clear on the final spread. Varying rhyme schemes and poem lengths help keep readers’ attention. For the most part, the rhymes and rhythms work, as in this, from “Cement Mixer”: “No time to wait; / he can’t sit still. / He has to beg your pardon. / For if he dawdles on the way, / his slushy load will harden.” Slonim’s trucks each sport an expressive pair of eyes, but the anthropomorphism stops there, at least in the pictures—Vestergaard sometimes takes it too far, as in “Bulldozer”: “He’s not a bully, either, / although he’s big and tough. / He waits his turn, plays well with friends, / and pushes just enough.” A few trucks’ jobs get short shrift, to mixed effect: “Skid-Steer Loader” focuses on how this truck moves without the typical steering wheel, but “Semi” runs with a royalty analogy and fails to truly impart any knowledge. The acrylic-and-charcoal artwork, set against white backgrounds, keeps the focus on the trucks and the jobs they are doing.
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5078-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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