BIG BROWN BEAR'S CAVE

Name: BIG BROWN BEAR'S CAVE
Author: Yuval Zommer
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9646-7

by Yuval Zommer ; illustrated by Yuval Zommer ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2018

The pictures perfectly capture the message of the book. Readers will both envy Bear’s trove of junk and be very eager to...

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Humans are terrible role models for bears.

The title character of this picture book is envious of human beings’ caves, where they store their cars. They’re full of stuff! “My cave will have the most stuff ever!” Big Brown Bear says, and he starts to gather stringed instruments and a rotary phone and a rocking horse. Soon, he’s trapped in a room full of clutter, and his friends have to pull him out, in a lovely echo of Pooh’s adventure with the hunny pot. The moral is both funny and wise, and some readers (particularly those who collect books) will recognize themselves in the main character. But the real appeal of the book is the digital illustrations, because they attract attention by looking just slightly wrong. One bear’s fur is a strange silvery-blue, and the characters’ arms and legs tilt away from their bodies at unlikely angles. The playful anatomy is oddly endearing. If Zommer took it any further, Big Brown Bear might cease to be a bear altogether and turn into a collection of beautiful and surprising shapes, which is entirely appropriate to the theme. And Bear’s pile of stuff looks like a glorious collage, with almost every item a different color.

The pictures perfectly capture the message of the book. Readers will both envy Bear’s trove of junk and be very eager to clean up their own piles of stuff. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: March 13, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9646-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Templar/Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WILD
by Yuval Zommer ; illustrated by Yuval Zommer

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIG BOOK OF NATURE ART
by Yuval Zommer ; illustrated by Yuval Zommer

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LIGHTS THAT DANCE IN THE NIGHT
by Yuval Zommer ; illustrated by Yuval Zommer

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BUG?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST I SEE YOU
by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)