A familiar take on the bedtime struggle, this tender nighttime story will safely soothe readers to dreamy bliss.
Rawlinson takes on the bedtime battle with a patient mother who finds herself on the losing end.
“I can’t sleep!” Molly starts innocently enough. Mother and child commence the bedtime story ritual. In flowing, rhyming text, the mom suggests soothing imaginary scenes including imagining she’s a “camel” in a “desert land” where “the heat makes you sleepy” or being “in a little boat rocked by a sleepy sea swell.” Each attempt is usurped by Molly’s imagination: “Camel’s thirsty,” she interrupts. “Could it please have a drink?” And: “Let’s have pirates as well, with monkeys and parrots and treasure and fighting.” The mom’s gentle pleas to keep it quiet seem futile against the energetic creativity of Molly. Yet she makes one last effort, invoking the image of being on a “tropical land” with “palm leaves” that “sway in the breeze.” At least one person eventually falls asleep. Rawlinson uses subtle humor and sparse lines to narrate. Paired with Wong’s sweet and simple pencil drawings, filled with subdued hues and gray shadows, the story has an overall calming tone. Molly and her mother are depicted as Asian in the illustrations. Unlike Molly’s mom, adult users of this title are likely to find sleepy success.
A familiar take on the bedtime struggle, this tender nighttime story will safely soothe readers to dreamy bliss. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3442-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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