A touching exploration of long-term grief with charming illustrations.
A girl struggles with grief over losing her mother in this picture book from debut author Paruzel-Gibson.
Ella has trouble sleeping. She misses her mom, and she feels “like a balloon without air. Or like noodles gone cold on a plate.” When she sees a classmate acting happy, she asks her to sneeze on her, thinking it might be contagious, but all she gets is a cold. After she hears her grandmother say that money can’t buy happiness, Ella throws her piggy bank out the window. She later dresses up as a witch for Halloween and makes a happiness potion, and she tries to catch a star. Nothing works until she visits an apple tree that she and her mother had often visited, and the memory makes her happy. Many children’s books about grief deal with immediate loss, but Paruzel-Gibson engagingly allows Ella to take some time before reconnecting with happy memories. The digital, cartoon-style color illustrations by Catrinella (Chin Up, 2019, etc.) have a mixed-media feel, particularly in the apple tree’s beautiful texture. Some transitions feel jarring, as when the tree is introduced with an unusual phrase: “Ella had a much-loved friend.” However, the accessible vocabulary and very understandable behaviors will resonate with young readers. Ella is white, and her neighbors have varying skin tones.
A touching exploration of long-term grief with charming illustrations.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-4381-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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