A muted palette and uncluttered yet nuanced compositions distinguish yet another winsome title from Henkes. Toddlers and...
Henkes’ latest tale for preschoolers focuses on five elephants whose daylong march provides opportunities for counting and exploring opposites.
“Look! / Elephants! // One, / two, / three, / four, / five.” A clear grid places the corresponding number of elephants to the right of each number. This parade (a collective noun for a group or herd of elephants) travels up and down hills, over a bridge above jumping fish, under palm trees, and in and out of a cave. Thick lines of brown ink contour the simple shapes, and a different pastel color distinguishes each elephant. (The first and largest elephant is blue; the fifth elephant, who marches last, is small and pink.) The pared-down narrative, delivered handsomely on thick, creamy paper in 46-point Futura Medium, is wryly funny: “They march all day. // And when the day is done, / they are done, too.” After the elephants yawn and stretch, “they lift their trunks… // and they trumpet— / scattering stars across the sky.” This lovely metaphor is humorously extended visually, as each elephant’s trunk seems to spew a burst of five-pointed stars upward. (The little elephant manages five.) Then: “Good night.” The elephants lie in a cozy huddle below the stars, signaling bedtime for sleepy kids, too. Brown endpapers bracket the story’s simple arc: butterflies and the sun at the start; the moon and stars to end it.
A muted palette and uncluttered yet nuanced compositions distinguish yet another winsome title from Henkes. Toddlers and grown-ups—snuggle up and enjoy. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-266827-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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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