Lots of things are falling in this salute to autumn. As school begins, the leaves change color and begin to fall to the ground; warm clothes come out as the temperature falls; apples fall from the trees; seeds fall from sunflowers; children fall into piles of leaves. And let’s not forget that other harbinger of autumn—football players fall into the end zone. Footsteps fall on crispy leaves, sunlight falls through bare branches, and raindrops fall, finally denuding the trees. The text is meant to be rhyming, but falls far short of being rhythmic or lyrical, and seems to lose steam toward the end. Collaged illustrations in the rich, warm colors of autumn add depth and texture to the scenes depicted. Racial and physical diversity are well-represented, and small, almost-hidden details will keep the interest of the youngest of listeners. Not the best of the autumn-themed crop, but not the worst, either. Elementary teachers could use this as a springboard to a discussion on the many different meanings of the same word. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-8075-0490-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Richly colored illustrations and lyrical text portray a girl and her family in India waiting for the monsoon season to begin. “[G]ravelly, grainy, gritty dust” blows on the wind and won’t stop until the rains come. The level of anticipation is so high that every engine rumble sounds like thunder. A koel (songbird) sings “in a voice like melting sunshine,” and heat waves “dance upon rocks and shimmer over rooftops.” Sometimes the viewpoint is angled upward to emphasize the sky’s importance. Saturated colors fill every bit of every page (there’s no white space at all), fully conveying the hot, dusty air and the sense of impatience. When the “stretching, sweeping sheet of rain” finally arrives, the girl and her brother dance joyously in the street. An expressive story about seasons, extremes, and waiting. (glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-374-35015-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
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