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MY HIPPIE GRANDMOTHER

Name: MY HIPPIE GRANDMOTHER
Author: Reeve Lindbergh
ISBN: 0-7636-0671-5

by Reeve Lindbergh & illustrated by Abby Carter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2003

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Famed author Lindbergh, in a much lighter poetic vein than On Morning Wings (2002), limns a bouncy and exuberant rhyme wherein a girl extols her hippie grandma: “She hasn’t cut her hair at all / Since nineteen sixty-nine.” Not only that, but she drives a purple bus, has a mustachioed, guitar-playing boyfriend named Jim, and a cat named Woodstock. The girl helps her grandmother in the garden, and helps her sell goods at the Farmers Market as well as to picket City Hall when necessary. “My mother is a lawyer. / My dad works on TV,” says the girl, and grandma tells her she will find her own perfect job, perhaps “find the cure for cancer / And save the human race.” But she knows that she wants to be a Hippie Grandmother herself, some day, “JUST LIKE YOU!” The pictures are a wonder, in electric kool-aid acid colors, full of sunshine and love beads and tie-dye. Carter (The Invisible Enemy, not reviewed, etc.) has an energetic line; her watercolor and gouache figures fairly dance off the page. Grandma’s home, with its colorful pottery, array of plants, and occasional ’60s artifact (don’t miss the lava lamp), is utterly engaging. For children who may have such a grandma, or know such a grandma, and for more than a few adults who may recognize themselves in the words and pictures: a sheer delight. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-7636-0671-5

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
HOMER THE LIBRARY CAT
by Reeve Lindbergh & illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf

- BOOK REVIEW
MY LITTLE GRANDMOTHER OFTEN FORGETS
by Reeve Lindbergh & illustrated by Kathryn Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
THE VISIT
by Reeve Lindbergh & illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

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HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Stephen King ; illustrated by Maurice Sendak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.

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Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.

In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9780062644695

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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BECAUSE YOUR DADDY LOVES YOU

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005

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Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)