Even if the philosophy doesn’t land, the playful illustrations will still appeal to readers.
In this tale translated from German, a child raises a profound question.
At bedtime, Ludwig strikes up a conversation with a rhinoceros. Hearing the chatter, Ludwig’s caregiver enters the bedroom and, not seeing the animal, tries to convince Ludwig that there can’t possibly be a rhinoceros here. The caregiver searches the room, never seeing the rhinoceros. Readers share Ludwig’s perspective and spot the elusive creature on every page. Ludwig argues that it’s not possible to prove the rhino isn’t here—after all, the moon is in the sky even though they can’t see it. The backmatter notes that this concept is a play on philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s question of how to prove something isn’t there, which is much harder than proving something is. The philosophical theory might go over some young readers’ heads but could still be thought-provoking. The illustrations rely on just three colors—bright blue, yellow, and red (which blend into other colors when printed on top of one another)—while still giving dimension to shadows and details like wood grain on the dresser. Giving little ones—Ludwig and readers—the power of owning the book’s perspective is an interesting flip of traditional adult-child dynamics. Here, the child holds the knowledge that the adult struggles to understand. Ludwig and the caregiver have yellow skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Even if the philosophy doesn’t land, the playful illustrations will still appeal to readers. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780735845275
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 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
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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