A well-meaning but ultimately flawed offering.
A fictionalized account of a wildlife rescue program in Michigan that places orphaned cubs with mother bears.
This real-life program is presented fictionally, through the point of view of a presumably adopted child. A boy named Braden narrates as he and his sister, Finley, accompany their father in his work as a wildlife biologist with this program. First they collar a mother bear so they can track and find her if and when they find an orphaned cub. Braden and Finley hold her cubs while their father and other adults collar her. When an orphaned cub is located later, they accompany their father again to track the sow and trick her into accepting the baby as her own. While this process is fascinating, the fact that the children are illustrated to appear Asian (Finley) and black (Braden) while their dad appears white could raise uneasy feelings among adoptees who read this family as a transracial adoptive family. Are readers to understand this text as creating a parallel between human adoption and the cub adoption program? If so, duping the mother bear into taking in the cub makes for a troubling association with human adoption, and the fact that most human adoptees are not orphaned by their biological parents undermines the parallel. Backmatter includes information on black bears’ life cycle, hibernation, a Q-and-A with a bear biologist, and further facts about bears. A Spanish-language edition publishes simultaneously in paperback.
A well-meaning but ultimately flawed offering. (bibliography) (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60718-726-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arbordale Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
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