Dappled illustrations and vivid text highlight growth in the natural world.
“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.”
When young children and their parents and grandparents explore the woods, fields, and waterways, they ponder “what if.” What if you were an acorn, caterpillar, tadpole? Step by step, the answers explain the development of these offspring to maturity. “If you were an acorn, you’d swing from a stout twig, snug inside a hard brown shell, bristled cap on your head.” The acorn drops, cracks open, and grows until it becomes “an oak tree, reaching lobed leaves toward sunlight.” Strong word choices allow a caterpillar to “button [itself] to a leaf,” a turtle hatchling to shed “old scutes,” and a duckling to “forage in foliage [and] dabble upended.” The final “what if” describes the personal journey of a baby to adulthood and spotlights the book’s diverse families, which include an interracial same-sex couple, two grandparent-led families, and three headed by single parents. Each child’s journey has stretched from days “snug in a blanket” to “splash[ing] in the shallows like turtles and ducks” and “leav[ing] your dear footprints wherever you go.” Gentle illustrations feature green for growth and locate all the families in different parts of the same woodland. The final illustration brings the story full circle as the White child encountered first poses before an oak tree, arms stretched up toward sunlight. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 32.3% of actual size.)
Dappled illustrations and vivid text highlight growth in the natural world. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63592-308-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 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
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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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