Oliver, an owl, stays up past his bedtime at the end of one night and sees something he has never seen before—the sun. Oliver wants to tell someone about it, but all his friends—the ``spiky hedgehogs'' and the ``stripy badgers''—are asleep. None of the animals who are awake—awake as usual—are the least bit interested. Feeling ever-so-lonely, Oliver finally falls asleep. When his friends wake him up in the middle of the night, he is compensated for all his earlier disappointments, for they are duly impressed when they hear about the sun. Hendra's simple text has flair: The adjectives conjure up funny images, while the story gives readers plenty to think about, without ever using the words nocturnal and diurnal. Gouache illustrations look much like linoleum prints—blocks of bright colors, mainly blue and ocher— and the chubby animals, with their bulging white eyes, are undeniably friendly territory. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: July 1, 1996
ISBN: 1-56402-932-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1996
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
In this entry in the Growing Tree series, the publisher copyrights the text, while Carpenter provides illustrations for the story; here, the three billy goats named Gruff play on a nasty troll’s greed to get where the grass is greenest. Logic has never been the long suit of this tale: Instead of letting the two smaller billy goats be terrorized by the mean and ugly troll, children wonder, why doesn’t the biggest billy goat step in sooner? It’s still a good introduction to comparatives, and the repetitiveness of the story invites participation. The artwork matches the story: The characters are suitably menacing, quivering, or stalwart, and the perspectives allow readers to be right there in the thick of the action. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: June 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-694-01033-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HarperFestival
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
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