Don’t be fooled by the title—this delightful offering is a welcome departure from stories about family groupings. Instead, the rhyming verse details the way families act and the things that they do together. “Some families dress up / to go do the town. / And others are happy / just hanging around.” From the way they dress and eat, to where they live and the things they have, Dotlich’s (When Riddles Come Rumbling: Poems to Ponder, not reviewed, etc.) verses are a fun look at all the ways families are alike and different the world over. But it is the perfect combination of story and illustration that truly make this one to own. Featuring human as well as animal families, Lyon’s (An Alligator Ate My Brother, not reviewed, etc.) marvelous cartoon drawings are filled with detail, bright color, and wonderful facial expression. Frogs catching flies illustrate families who grab a quick bite to eat, while a Japanese mother and daughter and a cowboy and his son are pictured for families who have different styles. By carefully including different ethnicities, races, and family groupings, Dotlich insures that a child looking at these pictures will certainly see a family like his or her own. A great start to some comparisons of their own. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-56397-916-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
Girl science power and new friendships make for a good combination.
In Fliess’ update, Mary is an inventive scientist, but she’s a lonely one.
“Mary had a little lab. / She tested and created. / While other kids were at the park, / she built and calculated.” The window of her lab provides views of the kids’ fun, and they inspire her to make a friend. Literally. She bikes to a farm for a snip of wool and heads back to use her latest invention: the Sheepinator. The resultant pet is everything she could hope for, not only providing companionship, but also helping out around the house and lab. And when he follows her to school, the kids all ask for their own wooly friends. What could possibly go wrong? Bouloubasis’ hysterical illustrations show the chaos that ensues, but the scientist and her new human friends think of a clever solution that leaves the whole town satisfied…and warm. Fliess’ verses include enough of the original poem (but tweaked) to tickle readers’ funny bones, and the rhyme and rhythm are spot-on. Mary is a wild-haired white redhead who is depicted as safety-conscious (bike helmet, ear protection, rubber gloves, etc.); the other kids are a diverse group. Most diverse (and somewhat distracting) of all are the noses on their faces—all sizes, shapes, and colors.
Girl science power and new friendships make for a good combination. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4982-7
Page Count: 37
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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