A sweet book that shows its song’s continued relevance.
A farmyard awakens to the lyrics of an old lullaby in this picture-book retelling of a classic Irish ballad.
One morning, a farm’s animals rise from slumber: First, songbirds sing “Charee, charee, charee!”; next, a rooster crows. Ducks and turkeys quack and gobble, watching a bald eagle snatch a koi from a pond. A farmer wakes next to milk cows: “K-lang, k-lang, k-lang! / The farmer moo-ves the cows along.” The pigs wait for their slop and call “Soo-ey!” In the farmhouse, a mother sings the book’s lullaby to soothe her infant child. Although much of the book feels set in an earlier era, hints of modern technology subtly appear throughout; the final image shows modern children running off to school. Sheet music with the lyrics of the title song’s first stanza bring the book to a close. Ehlenberger and Miller capture the timeless feel of the song in their rhymes, emphasizing the sounds of the birds and animals in a larger typeface, so young readers can chime in during repetition. Carlos’ beautifully illustrated animals capture the joy of early morning, while the landscapes and plants add a sense of texture. The inclusion of large turkeys and a bald eagle place the Irish tune in the Americas, although the farmer wears an Irish tweed hat.
A sweet book that shows its song’s continued relevance.Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 9781957723297
Page Count: 24
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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