Brava!
Hannah imagines outlandish scenarios to prevent her from performing in a recital.
The first page shows a small child inside a violin shop, with a bespectacled adult gently guiding her posture as she holds a violin. Readers next see Hannah at home with her violin when she is a few years older, the simple text clarifying that she loves to play the violin—but only when alone. On recital day, “she secretly wishe[s] something wild would happen…so she wouldn’t have to go!” Realistic portrayals of Hannah and her family are cleverly interwoven with beautiful, fantastical artwork each time Hannah hopes for “something wild” to occur. Her first fantasy shows bright blue birds flying away with her concert clothing; next, she is seen wearing her concert clothing as her family gapes while russet rabbits abscond with her violin. These lively juxtapositions continue as the family walks together—Hannah holding her violin—to the school hosting the event. A few simple words describe Hannah’s feelings of anxiety, both at home and backstage. The denouement is a lovely testament to the best magic of which we are capable. The simply drawn, expressive, light-skinned characters are reminiscent of those in Barbara Samuels’ Faye and Dolores series. The familial closeness continues throughout the book, which combines sweetness, imagination, and gentle humor. Though this tale will appeal to all readers, it will especially resonate with introverts. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Brava! (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-11234-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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