Bang's trademark striking colors and bold outlines enhance this welcome new book that’s as much about the creative process...
From the author/illustrator of Caldecott Honor book When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry (1999) comes another book about coping with emotional upheaval.
Sophie’s a little older and her emotions, a bit more complex in this second, longer story. Her teacher gives the class an assignment to choose a tree to paint the next day. Sophie chooses her favorite beech tree, where she still finds comfort when she’s angry or sad. Her tree’s bark is gray, but using gray paint to represent it feels wrong somehow. Grappling with the challenge of conveying the happiness the tree gives her, she boldly paints it turquoise and makes the sky orange for contrast. She loves the way it looks, but her classmates laugh at her efforts, telling her that her painting is all wrong. Sophie is crushed and mortified. Bang uses perspective to great effect in a double-page spread showing Sophie from above, hands inert by her sides, shrinking away from both readers and her painting as the tears flow. Happily, the teacher steps in with a warm embrace and calmly talks the class through the different ways that their paintings all express their individual feelings about their trees.
Bang's trademark striking colors and bold outlines enhance this welcome new book that’s as much about the creative process as it is about emotion. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-78831-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind.
The cool beans again step up to do a timorous fellow legume a fava…this time at the pool.
Will a rash decision to tackle the multistory super-slide lead to another embarrassing watery fail for our shy protagonist? Nope, for up the stairs right behind comes a trio of cool beans, each a different type and color, all clad in nothing but dark shades. They make an offer: “It’s not as scary if you go with friends!” As the knobby nerd explains once the thrilling ride down is done, “They all realized that I just needed some encouragement and support.” Just to make sure that both cool and uncool readers get the message, the narrator lets us know that “there are plenty of kind folks who have my back. They’re always there when I need them.” The beany bonhomie doesn’t end at the bottom of the slide, with all gliding down to the shallow end of the pool (“3 INCHES. NO DIVING”) for a splashy finale. This latest early reader starring characters from John and Oswald’s immensely popular Food Group series will be a hit with fans. Fun accessories, such as a bean who rocks pink cat-eye frames, add some pizzazz to the chromatically and somatotypically varied cast.
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780063329560
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Accessible, reassuring and hopeful.
This endearing picture book about a timid boy who longs to belong has an agenda but delivers its message with great sensitivity.
Brian wants to join in but is overlooked, even ostracized, by his classmates. Readers first see him alone on the front endpapers, drawing in chalk on the ground. The school scenarios are uncomfortably familiar: High-maintenance children get the teacher’s attention; team captains choose kickball players by popularity and athletic ability; chatter about birthday parties indicates they are not inclusive events. Tender illustrations rendered in glowing hues capture Brian’s isolation deftly; compared to the others and his surroundings, he appears in black and white. What saves Brian is his creativity. As he draws, Brian imagines amazing stories, including a poignant one about a superhero with the power to make friends. When a new boy takes some ribbing, it is Brian who leaves an illustrated note to make him feel better. The boy does not forget this gesture. It only takes one person noticing Brian for the others to see his talents have value; that he has something to contribute. Brian’s colors pop. In the closing endpapers, Brian’s classmates are spread around him on the ground, “wearing” his chalk-drawn wings and capes. Use this to start a discussion: The author includes suggested questions and recommended reading lists for adults and children.
Accessible, reassuring and hopeful. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-582-46450-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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