Not quite perfect by any means but a serviceable Passover story.
Things don’t go as expected at an eagerly anticipated seder.
Dad has good and bad news for Ruby. The good: Their family will host the first seder this year. The bad: Their family will host the first seder. Why is this bad news? Bubbe broke her leg, and hosting is a lot of work. But Ruby can’t wait to start. All must be perfect for Bubbe. But little brother Benny messes everything up in his efforts to help—it’s his fault the seder won’t be perfect, Ruby moans. At one point, Dad points out Ruby’s own mistakes, making her even more upset. But eventually, everything gets done, Benny is assigned a doable task to perform at the seder, and the guests arrive. But what’s this? Not-quite-perfect surprises occur—and everyone loves them! Bubbe, in a leg cast, even asks Ruby to help her prepare “a not-quite-perfect seder” next year—and Ruby generously credits Benny for the seder’s nonperfect success. This lightweight, mildly humorous tale makes the clichéd point that all will work out well if you simply try your best—a good point that feels rushed in the telling. The illustrations are colorful and cheery, but characters’ faces are bland and not individualized. Dark-haired Ruby’s family seems to be a single-parent household. Ruby and most of the family members are light-skinned; a child seder guest has dark skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not quite perfect by any means but a serviceable Passover story. (note about Passover) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780807571699
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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