A simple ode to all food has to offer.
Love is where the food is.
This tiny board book focuses on all that a meal can do. Food helps us grow strong, smells good, and brings a family together. The text consists of one long sentence, one phrase per double-page spread, until the end, where it concludes: “for giving much more than enough— / thank you for filling us with love.” Since the force that is being thanked is never named, the book has potential application in families of many faiths. Children and families of all ethnicities enjoy the delicious food. Walsh’s style has a bulbous look, and the illustrations are muddied by a color palette that leans on dark greens, oranges, reds, and browns, but the compositions are smartly arranged and put just as much emphasis on smiling faces as they do on the food. Another in the series, Tiny Blessings for a Merry Christmas, publishes concurrently and explores the Christmas holiday with the same illustrator and narrative style. The books are quite small but hard-bound and should stand up to even the most active readers.
A simple ode to all food has to offer. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7624-6096-0
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly pleasant; entirely skippable.
Precious, nursery-style animals and plants decorate the pages of five classic religious adages.
In this hodgepodge collection, Magsamen illustrates childhood prayers with her traditional faux quilting style, featuring candy-colored pastel tones, too-sentimental cartoon animals, and grinning suns, moons, and flowers. There’s a strong heart theme throughout, with a heart-shaped nose on a lamb and similarly shaped birds’ wings. It’s cute but almost entirely generic. Some of the traditional sayings, such as “God made the sun,” are re-created verbatim; others are expanded or altered, as when “I see the moon and the moon sees me” receives additional lines about kissing “nighty-night.” None of these additions adds much to the original, and most have a meter that sounds just a little off. The poems are written in thin, hand-written white letters that don’t always have enough contrast to be seen easily against the background, and the occasional colorfully highlighted and patterned words cramp the page. The simultaneously publishing ’Twas the Night Before Christmas! is purely derivative, with alterations that drastically truncate and remove all the character of the original poem. It reads aloud poorly, particularly to ears accustomed to the original. Both share a tall, narrow trim size that is somewhat unwieldy to hold with a child in the lap.
Blandly pleasant; entirely skippable. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35981-7
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Satisfactory text; irresistibly delightful illustrations.
A bedtime-prayer board book features a family of badgers.
Speaking in a gentle rhyme, the badgers ask for God’s blessings for family and friends and offer gratitude for the gifts of the natural world. Temple’s stanzas have a lullaby lilt to them, with a cadence that remains consistent throughout. With the exception of the first and last stanzas, which are voiced by the older badgers, the little badger relates the text. The accompanying images show the little badger remembering how much there is to be thankful for, from loved ones like grandparents to the moon and stars. It’s Braun’s illustrations that truly speak to little readers. The badger family is adorable; the softness and simplicity of their features are charming. The same is true of the other woodland creatures and animals. A wintry scene stands out from the rest thanks to the feelings of frostiness and wonder it evokes. There’s the little badger wrapped in a red scarf, nose to the sky, and a tiny mouse leaning on a walking stick, the soft snow floating down around them. Other details, like a lemonade bottle tucked in a picnic basket and a toy boat with a leaf sail, add depth and interest to the scenes.
Satisfactory text; irresistibly delightful illustrations. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-632-9
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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