A picture book to count on for delightful shared reading.
Share and share alike! Gehl’s debut picture-book text is a silly romp of a counting book with a lesson in sharing to boot. Its rhyming text opens with a giggle-inspiring dilemma: “ONE big pair of underwear. / TWO brown bears who hate to share. ONE bear wears the underwear. // ONE bear growls, ‘That isn’t fair!’ ” Ensuing pages display similarly silly conundrums: only two snacks for three yaks, just five pillows and mats for six sleepy cats, and so on. The only thing that these creatures seem to share is a case of the greedies. For every situation, the one who comes up short is less-than-pleased, with the excluded cat, for example, thinking “Rats! Rats! Rats!” as it inflates an air mattress (which has a hole in it). Such comical twists abound in Lichtenheld’s illustrations, which more than hold their own against the text’s goofy details and seem like they would translate well into animation. Ultimately, a group of 20 pigs amicably share just 10 playground slides, and seeing this, the bears are inspired to share their underwear, as depicted in the cover art. The other animals follow suit, and all’s well that ends well—even if the text credits the underwear, rather than the (ironically) generous pigs, for inspiring the feel-good camaraderie at book’s end.
A picture book to count on for delightful shared reading. (Picture book 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5336-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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