From young preschoolers afraid of thunderstorms to school-aged children learning to deal with worrying aspects of the larger...
A soothing story follows adult animals as they protect their young and offer words of comfort during stormy times.
The story opens and closes with an adult collie and puppy, at first watching a storm roll in. The final pages show the same pair safe inside their farmhouse, with the reassuring words, “A storm will always end.” Each double-page spread features an adult with one or two babies, ranging from moles to whales to giraffes. The animals are all cuddly-cute and nonthreatening, even the wolves and the bobcats, and the swirling storms are evocative without being too scary. Each spread has a rhyming couplet in the adult’s voice addressing the stormy weather, along with some reassuring advice about staying safe next to the grown-up. The text doesn’t specify whether the adult animals are mothers or fathers, and though the larger animals seem parental, the story is dedicated “to teachers and school staff everywhere, who provide a safe harbor for children every day” and to the memory of the Sandy Hook Elementary victims. The story could be effectively used after any sort of disaster, with its supportive words about an adult’s calm shelter keeping little ones safe.
From young preschoolers afraid of thunderstorms to school-aged children learning to deal with worrying aspects of the larger world, this encouraging story offers a hopeful view of the protective power of caring adults. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-86792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
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
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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