Even lovers of fractured fairy tales will see straight through these.
Children learn the value of sharing (and tissues) in this remake of “The Three Little Pigs.”
Children think they know all about the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf. After all, there have been plenty of tales that have looked at the story from all different angles. But how many know that Big Bad just had a nasty cold and simply wanted the pigs to share their tissues? It’s true. And when he climbs down the chimney, incensed at their selfishness, he gets a soothing warm bath as well as a bit of revenge. “If only they had given Big Bad a tissue, they wouldn’t have caught his cold!” Other books in the series adapt “Goldilocks” to teach kids about eating healthy food, “Cinderella” to impress upon them the importance of brushing twice a day, and “The Gingerbread Man” to stress staying active. These books all have a spot on the didactic spectrum, some higher than others, and only Keep Running, Gingerbread Man really gets its message across smoothly and without changing the original story too drastically. Eat Your Veggies, Goldilocks is the weakest, featuring a brat who wants to only eat treats. But magically, when she’s discovered by the Bears, she shares their healthy food without a complaint. The cartoon illustrations for the four are all by different illustrators, but they all simply reflect the tales rather than extending them.
Even lovers of fractured fairy tales will see straight through these. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60992-708-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up.
In Murray’s children’s debut, when a gingerbread man made by schoolchildren gets left behind at recess, he decides he has to find his class: “I’ll run and I’ll run, / As fast as I can. / I can catch them! I’m their / Gingerbread Man!”
And so begins his rollicking rhyming adventure as he runs, limps, slides and skips his way through the school, guided on his way by the friendly teachers he meets. Flattened by a volleyball near the gym, he gets his broken toe fixed by the kindly nurse and then slides down the railing into the art teacher’s lunch. Then it’s off to the principal’s office, where he takes a spin in her chair before she arrives. “The children you mentioned just left you to cool. / They’re hanging these posters of you through the school.” The principal takes him back to the classroom, where the children all welcome him back. The book’s comic-book layout suits the elementary-school tour that this is, while Lowery’s cartoon artwork fits the folktale theme. Created with pencil, screen printing and digital color, the simple illustrations give preschoolers a taste of what school will be like. While the Gingerbread Man is wonderfully expressive, though, the rather cookie-cutter teachers could use a little more life.
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25052-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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