Not the best thing since sliced bread—but warm and sweet nevertheless.
A title from the pantry shelf for the new-baby bookshelf.
Border’s Bent Objects photography personifies objects like peanut butter–slathered slices of bread, not with anthropomorphic faces but with limbs made of bent wire. Photographed scenes of little Peanut Butter talking with his parents (also depicted as pieces of peanut-buttered bread with wire limbs) while they are baking in the kitchen show him learning he’s going to be a big brother and worrying, “Is it hard?” His dad assures him, “Easy as Pie….You should ask her about it.” This wordplay with the idiom signals the entrance of a new foodstuffs character, Apple Pie, big sister to Blueberry and Cherry. Peanut Butter also seeks advice from Cucumber and Big Cheese. The culminating message that he just needs to be himself and to be loving is affirming, and it’s saved from treacle with a twist at book’s end that shows Peanut Butter arriving home to meet “a whole loaf of little brothers and sisters” and not just a new baby slice of bread. Missteps in pacing and phrasing may confuse readers along the way to this happy, bent ending—for example, a spread introduces little Pepper Jack in a photo before her mention in the text, which could lead some to assume she’s supposed to be her brother Big Cheese, tiny though she is.
Not the best thing since sliced bread—but warm and sweet nevertheless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4006-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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