A delicious, snow-filled slice of life.
A father and child enjoy a frigid day together in the city.
In first-person narration, with a definite sense of ownership, a youngster describes winter in an urban setting. “My winter city holds early light / around us, / a moment before sunrise, / silent, / still.” Nothing is plowed, nothing is touched. There is just the young tot peering out the window, looking at the snow. Then, with toboggan firmly in tow, the duo (along with a pup) sets off outside. The serene silence has changed. “My winter city is a soup of salty slushes, full of sliding buses / splashing, spraying, sploshing, soaking walkers on the sidewalk.” They squeeze into the bus with other damp riders, all fogging up the windows. Then they emerge into a new scene—a park. “My winter city is a deep-freeze / vision of big icy sled hills / and towers that rise up through / far-away skies.” The buildings loom large behind trees and newly cut sledding tracks. Snowflakes continue to dot the sky throughout the adventure, all the way until home again. This specific setting may be unfamiliar to some readers, but the narrator opens the end to varied possibilities: “That’s my winter city. // What’s yours?” Clement surprises readers with unexpected compositions, crowding them into the bus with all the passengers then pulling back and up for a bird’s-eye view of the city street. Father and child both present white, but the community they inhabit is a diverse one.
A delicious, snow-filled slice of life. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77306-010-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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