An entertaining rhyming book about an audacious grandmother.
After searching for their grandmother, four boys find her in some wild (and some domestic) locations in this rhyming picture book.
Opening with the repeating title phrase, this picture book upends expectations from the start, when Gramma is found in a tree. Grandsons Jimmy, CJ, Jack, and Garrett discover their grandmother in all sorts of unexpected locations. She digs a trench with a backhoe and pours concrete to build a bench. She shows the boys wildlife, collects bugs, and dives to the bottom of a pool with crabs and turtles (creative license is used liberally here). She takes care of her ranch, minding the chickens and cows, before announcing, “I’d say we need cookies right about now.” Along with baking, she also reads and knits, revealing that she also enjoys more traditional grandmotherly activities—without ever undermining that this Gramma performs jackknifes and cannonballs into the pool. Veteran picture-book author Gardella’s scansion and rhymes are clean and clever, with accessible vocabulary and minimal words per page, making this a good choice for emergent readers. David’s cartoon illustrations capture Gramma’s big personality. The huge round eyes and freckled faces of the grandsons make this white-presenting family look convincingly related, though they don’t exhibit unique personalities. A final illustration shows the farmhouse, which helps situate the space where so many adventures have unfolded—on a ranch any grandkid would be happy to visit.
An entertaining rhyming book about an audacious grandmother.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Write Em Cowgirl
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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