Useful for sharing with gardening grandmas but not essential.
An ideal day in an idealized garden with a doting grandma.
“Every Sunday, Mommy and Daddy take me to Nana’s garden,” proclaims a smiling, brown-haired child wearing turquoise boots, a yellow sundress, and a flower-adorned hat. On subsequent pages, child and blue jeans–clad grandmother, shaded by her own sun hat, gather tomatoes and basil, chase butterflies, catch bugs, pick flowers, and water plants. Though the book is not directly instructional, six colors are highlighted in colored type, and the girl counts flowers and rocks as she collects them. The child’s grandfather (gray haired but still rather young looking) is a peripheral character, glimpsed working in his workshop and helping with the watering. Illustrator De Luca’s fanciful illustrations display her animation experience, pink leaves on a willow tree edging the book toward fantasy. Caterpillars and adult insects smile throughout, even when pent-up in jars, some of which, distressingly, have no visible air holes. (Sharp-eyed readers will also note that the word “brown” is not set in colored type—a small but distracting detail.) Nana presents white, as do the child’s grandfather and father; the child’s mother and the child both have beige skin a smidge darker.
Useful for sharing with gardening grandmas but not essential. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-949998-98-6
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Clever Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt.
A love song from parents to their child.
This title will seem quite similar to the many others about parents’ deep love for their children. The text is wholly composed of first-person declarations of parental love, and it’s juxtaposed with illustrations of the child with one or both parents. It’s not always clear who the “I” speaking is, and there are a few pages that instead use “we.” Most sentences begin with “I love you more” phrasing to communicate that nothing could undermine parental love: “I love you more than all the sleepless nights…and all the early, tired mornings.” The accompanying pictures depict the child as a baby with weary parents. Later spreads show the child growing up, and the phrasing shifts away from the challenges of parenting to its joys and to attempts to quantify love: “I love you more than all the blades of grass at the park…and all the soccer that we played.” Throughout, Bell’s illustrations use pastel tones and soft visual texture to depict cozy, wholesome scenes that are largely redundant of the straightforward, warm text. They feature a brown-haired family with a mother, father, and child, who all appear to be white (though the father has skin that’s a shade darker than the others’).
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0652-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an...
A little boy exults in his new role as big brother.
Rhyming text describes the arrival of a new baby and all of the big brother’s rewarding new duties. He gets to help with feedings, diaper changes, playtime, bathtime, and naptime. Though the rhyming couplets can sometimes feel a bit forced and awkward, the sentiment is sweet, as the focus here never veers from the excitement and love a little boy feels for his tiny new sibling. The charming, uncluttered illustrations convincingly depict the growing bond between this fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, smiling pair of boys. In the final pages, the parents, heretofore kept mostly out of view, are pictured holding the children. The accompanying text reads: “Mommy, Daddy, baby, me. / We love each other—a family!” In companion volume I Am a Big Sister, the little boy is replaced with a little girl with bows in her hair. Some of the colors and patterns in the illustrations are slightly altered, but it is essentially the same title.
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an older sibling can do to help. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-68886-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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