A charming concept book, an upbeat romp, and an ode to South Asian cuisine, all in one delectable package.
An Indian grandfather and child head to the market to stock up for a party—and find themselves embarking on a lesson in counting.
Sona and Dada (Grandfather) wander around, encountering foods from a variety of Indian culinary traditions. They pick up “20 ladoos at this store” and then “19 elaichis from a drawer.” The book continues counting backward as the pair buy “18 sheeras from that man.” What’s next? “16 mangoes in a line,” “15 flavors on the sign!” and “13 tikkis—so delish!” Sona and Dada even stop for eclairs, which, the authors explain, are served in the southeast Indian city of Pondicherry, once a French colony. At the end of their shopping trip, the two return home and prepare a celebratory picnic for friends and family. The book’s bright illustrations make use of enticing patterns and feature background characters with a variety of skin tones and hair textures. Filled with color and movement, the artwork brims with joyful chaos. The jaunty verse, presented in couplets, cleverly covers a wide variety of foods, although at times the authors sacrifice word choice for the sake of a rhyme. Accompanying the main text are explanatory notes in a smaller font, which include pronunciations for Hindi words and definitions. This is a well-thought-out, refreshingly original work, with whimsical illustrations beautifully complementing the exuberant text.
A charming concept book, an upbeat romp, and an ode to South Asian cuisine, all in one delectable package. (Concept book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781665934008
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills.
What do you do when the world turns upside down?
Freckled redhead Tilda is a happy only child with a rollicking personality. With lots of books and toys and a multiracial group of friends, life is perfect as far as she’s concerned…until her world undergoes a troubling change (a subtle hint in the illustrations suggests that Tilda’s parents have divorced). Suddenly, nothing feels right, everything seems hard, and she doesn’t want to play with her friends. To reflect this emotional disorientation, the artwork shows Tilda in spatially distorted settings, complete with upside-down objects. It’s not until she sees an upturned ladybug struggle persistently before getting back on its feet (despite Tilda’s desire to help, the ladybug needs to help itself) that Tilda gains the courage to start taking baby steps in order to cope with her new reality. There are still challenges, and she needs to persevere, but eventually, she regains her zest for life and reconnects with her friends. Despite this, the ending avoids an easy happily-ever-after, which feels just right for the subject matter. Though a trifle didactic, the story sends an important message about the roles of self-efficacy and persistence when it comes to overcoming challenges and building resilience. Percival’s digital illustrations use transitions from grayscale to color to create symbolic meaning and have psychological depth, deftly capturing a child’s experience of trauma.
An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0822-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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