Sweetly captures a slice of Indian life.
A child and their mother are on a train in India.
When the train pulls into Jaipur station, the stop is 10 minutes long: just long enough to get a delicious cup of chai. Parent and child rush to the chai counter and wait in line for their turn. After they order, the child watches the chaiwala make their tea. First, he uses a mortar and pestle to grind up cardamom, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and cinnamon. Next, he drops fresh tea leaves into the pot. He then adds milk and sugar and heats everything until it starts to “boil and bubble.” Finally, he pours the tea into glasses, transferring it back and forth from pitcher to glass until it cools. The mother and child also purchase some sweets to dip into the tea—“biscuits and rusks”—and sit on the platform to enjoy their snack before the train takes off again. The text describes a scene familiar to many Indian train passengers, using authentic details and multisensory descriptions. The liberal use of onomatopoeia makes the book particularly fun to read out loud. The cut-paper illustrations are charming and do a wonderful job capturing the essence of Indian railway stations. While there is a clearly Sikh character shown on the platform, there are no characters who are obviously Muslim. Based on the mother’s bindi, the main characters appear to be Hindu. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sweetly captures a slice of Indian life. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77147-368-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.
In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.
Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250393975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
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