Sweet, if somewhat bland, reflections on love.
In this collaboration from CNN Today anchor Harlow, Saturday TODAY anchor Jarrett, and illustrator Chavarri, a young girl and her class consider what love means to them.
After Ms. Clementine asks the class what images the word love conjures up, the room erupts with answers. Classmates describe special capes, baby siblings, and stuffed animals, while Grace feels overwhelmed as she considers the many things she loves. Then Ms. Clementine gives the class their assignment for the next day: “If love were a color, what color would it be?” Grace thinks hard on her walk home, struggling to pick only a single color, but when she discovers that her older brother, Dante, is home from college and making his famous gumbo for dinner, Grace knows exactly what color love is for her. While Harlow and Jarrett offer sweet prose and a cheerful look at the multifaceted ways love can manifest and the many meanings it can take on, the text nonetheless falls a little flat, with a narrative that veers away from calm and uncomplicated into facile territory. Still, Chavarri’s illustrations bring to life what could be stagnant scenes; the art’s charm, vibrancy, and easy whirls of movement sweep readers along to the (quite literally) heartful final spread. Grace and her brother are Black, and a multiracial ensemble of secondary characters makes up Grace’s classroom.
Sweet, if somewhat bland, reflections on love. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9780593527108
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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