Never underestimate a preschooler’s resourceful thinking.
A little girl on the beach picks up an egg-shaped gray stone and imagines it will hatch into a bird.
Despite her mother’s insistence that the stone is too hard and heavy to be an egg, the dark-haired, pale-skinned girl, Eliza, sleeps with it under her pillow, treasuring its cool, smooth surface. One hot evening the stone feels very warm, so Eliza places it on her night table before falling asleep—waking to find the egg transformed into the shape of a bird. As the seasons change from summer to fall to winter, Eliza discovers a new gray pebble next to her stone bird and places them in a nest she fashions from a pair of socks. By springtime, two stone birds appear in her sock nest, a chick next to her mama bird. Warmer weather requires an open window, and one night Eliza dreams of beating wings and awakens to find her sock nest empty. Could the birds have come to life and flown away? Illustrations that look to be made from pen and ink with watercolors evoke summery seashore scenes and frosty winter evenings as the child’s playtime reveries become, for her, real. Sad at the loss of her stone birds, she finds that her birthday morning brings two doves near her bedroom window and the gift of a soft gray feather.
Never underestimate a preschooler’s resourceful thinking. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5415-1455-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 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
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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