Subtly imperfect.
A youngster’s passionate efforts to keep things pristine prove challenging.
Willow, a white bear cub, prefers things prim and tidy, even going to lengths to unscramble her spaghetti. When a fresh snowfall makes her backyard into “a crisp, white sheet,” she thinks it’s “perfect.” But then an errant snowball from some kids playing nearby (other arctic animals, including a seal, puffin, and hare) threatens to turn the snow into “a lumpy, bumpy mess.” She tries yelling remonstrations to them, but they’re too loud and she’s too far away. She tries to get closer, jumping from her back porch to her swingset, fully aware of the consequences to her precious snow if she falls. Eventually, she jury-rigs a zip line to the fence, but the force takes out some boards, on which she toboggans wildly, making “a crisp, white ribbon” in the snow that is, in her eyes, “perfect.” Everyone happily joins in for some winter fun. The narrative stretches on a bit long and sometimes feels itself like wildly thrown snowballs in its effort to reach 32 pages. Nevertheless, the lesson to accept changes and messiness is a valuable one for similarly minded readers. The illustrations are animated, especially in Willow’s expressions (perhaps overly so). Pleasing highlights include many piles of soft, convex snow and coloring that’s just outside the lines.
Subtly imperfect. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2741-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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