Sweet music is best heard by those who really listen.
Voices that join together make sweet music indeed.
Chipmunk lives on a rock, spending most of her days singing—“chirping”—songs that are happy, bittersweet, or sad. She really wants a singing partner. (Rock only listens.) On a walkabout, she encounters a pinecone whom she brings home, but Pinecone’s no better at singing than Rock is. Another day, Chipmunk finds a log she can’t move. Disconsolate, she sings a song “in my heart” laden with loneliness and defeat, which a listening raccoon appreciatively calls “sad” and “beautiful.” Raccoon helps with the log, but the pair’s efforts fail. Raccoon joins Chipmunk’s song, adding lyrics about frustration. A moose praises the duo’s tune, sung from “our hearts,” and offers pushing assistance. Moose’s strength finally dislodges the log, landing it…right near Rock and Pinecone. In the end, these objects become fast friends and perfect listeners to the songs that Chipmunk, Raccoon, and Moose sing together. This gentle, simply told story addresses the importance and enjoyment of friendship and collaboration. The eye-catching illustrations feature colors and patterns suggesting the emotional heft of Chipmunk’s airs; ample white space permits focus on the tale’s lively goings-on. The animal protagonists have engaging personalities and faces; their coats’ realistic furriness is achieved via the artist’s deft, swift strokes. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at 43.5% of actual size.)
Sweet music is best heard by those who really listen. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7002-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Safe to creep on by.
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)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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