Cute but a little muddled and ultimately failing to break new ground
In this wordless picture book, a pet lizard avoids separation anxiety by stowing away in its owner’s backpack on the first day of school.
Frontmatter pages depict the little lizard cuddled up next to the snoozing Mary’s pillow. The lizard wakes the flaxen-haired white child, plainly expecting a day of play, but Mary’s mother (a grown-up version of Mary) gestures urgently at her watch: clearly something is going on. As the lizard waits, puppylike, at the door with leash dangling from its mouth, Mary sadly packs her backpack—so of course the lizard crawls in. Although Mary sternly gestures for it to stay concealed, predictably, the lizard—possibly the cutest iguana anyone ever did see—sneaks out and wreaks mild havoc to the delight of Mary’s racially diverse classmates and displeasure of her hip, black teacher. Harren’s figures are of the “big eyes” aesthetic, though their expressions are largely ones of snub-nosed merriment rather than Gothic gloom. While the specifics of the premise are unusual, the overall story and treatment are not. Children will wonder at the (fairly) matter-of-fact way the teacher orders the lizard out of the classroom—and the way the chagrined but obedient reptile obeys. There is no scolding for Mary, just a mildly exasperated trip to the school for her mom, who leashes the lizard up and drags it home.
Cute but a little muddled and ultimately failing to break new ground . (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-1635-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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