Sure to be a favorite no matter what season readers are welcoming.
A cyclical dream of seasons to come.
Originally written in Norwegian, this story in verse follows the four seasons as they each in turn emerge from their slumber to change the landscape of a village and a nearby field with an apple tree. With each passing season, a different child is depicted nestled into the larger landscape asleep. As the year progresses, a pair of young children with pale skin and straight dark hair play and interact with the tree, but the real stars of the book are the seasons, each emerging with a vibrant design from various locations near the tree. Spring, a pale young boy with grassy hair, slumbers underground, emerging to dance around the town, a cloud of pollen surrounding him. Summer, a dark-skinned girl with hair made up of multicolored daisies, swings with joy after awakening in a flower bud. After snoozing inside an apple, a middle-aged, pale-skinned Autumn trails falling leaves from her flowing mane of auburn locks as she walks through the countryside, and an elderly, pale-skinned Winter, wrapped in coats and scarves, surveys the town after snoozing against the trunk under a toadstool. Readers of all ages will happily study the painterly illustrations for seasons to come, and the verse creates a soothing lullaby perfect for a nap at any time of the year. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sure to be a favorite no matter what season readers are welcoming. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64690-023-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Arctis Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
A sweet notion that falls flat.
A hit song reimagined as a book about parental love.
Featured in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1, Perri’s “A Thousand Years” deals with the speaker’s fear of romantic love. In picture-book form, it explores a parent’s unwavering love for a child, who grows from an infant into a toddler over the course of the narrative. The caregiver expresses awe when the youngster learns to stand and fear that the child might fall while beginning to walk. “I have spent every day waiting for you,” the parent says. “Darling, don’t be afraid.” What the child might fear isn’t clear from the joyful balloon- and rainbow-filled illustrations. The story borders on cloying, and words that might work when sung and accompanied by music don’t sound fresh on the page: “Time goes by. / You grow ever stronger as you fly.” The refrain, however, is a lovely sentiment: “I have loved you for a thousand years. / I’ll love you for a thousand more.” Perri’s legion of fans may flock to this version, illustrated by Ruiz with sparkling stars, bubbles, and big-eyed toddlers, but it doesn’t hold together as a narrative or an ode, as it’s billed, and it’s a long way from the original song. The child is tan-skinned, the parent is lighter-skinned, and other characters are diverse.
A sweet notion that falls flat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622599
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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