Inspiration to find—and perhaps spread—acts of kindness in our world.
A parent and child go for a walk in their neighborhood, finding examples of kindness in the dialogue they hear.
The duo’s rhyming adventure is told entirely through upbeat dialogue balloons. “ ‘You can do it.’ ‘That sounds fair.’ ‘Oh! I’m sorry.’ ‘We can share.’ ” An adult cheers on a young cyclist; two children play cards; and two children work out playing with one toy. Other overheard kindnesses include offers to help, recognition of a good deed, declarations of friendship, examples of compassion and empathy, extensions of courtesy, reassurances, and affirmations—all easy for children to emulate. Martínez’s illustrations effectively highlight the parent and child and the people interacting in each spread by picturing them in full color. The rest of the various scenes are in muted shades. Parent and child share the same brown skin and short black hair; other people are diverse. Backmatter lists other types of kindness walks; e.g., a quiet kindness walk is for noticing people’s actions, and on a literary kindness walk, you read a story while pausing to point out examples of the characters helping others. The author notes that “when we look for something in our world, we have a greater chance of finding it,” and that “our world and its loud news offers many angry sounds.” Kindness walks counteract the negative by seeing ways others “lift each other up.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Inspiration to find—and perhaps spread—acts of kindness in our world. (Picture book. 3-10)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781433841491
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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