Striking, retro-looking artwork cannot save the stumbling verses.
This Mexican import explores the many ways animal moms take care of their babies.
Featuring seals, bears, owls, tigers, monkeys, cats, kangaroos, jabirus (a type of storklike bird), sheep, pigeons, and elephants, the text presents mostly animals that are well-known to lapsitters (though the stylized cat and sheep illustrations may give youngsters pause). Unfortunately, the uneven rhythm of the translation may cause the owners of those laps to stumble: “The tiger kitten is roaring / but his mom won’t get upset. / She knows his baby fangs / can’t bite anything yet.” And the text leans more toward the sweet than the factual: “Who’s got a pocket / without any pants / to take her joeys walking / from Australia to France?” Meanwhile, the mama sheep is proud to have knitted her lambkins their “sweaters.” The graphic black-and-white illustrations with pops of bright red, pink, light blue, or purple are sure to capture readers’ interest, though they may not hold it. Reminiscent of picture books from the 1970s, the artwork was made, in part, by inking interestingly textured objects and then pressing paper onto them, a technique children will want to try for themselves. Frottage, hand drawing, and computer techniques were also used to create the blocky, stylized animals that fill the pages.
Striking, retro-looking artwork cannot save the stumbling verses. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59270-194-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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