Marine fun and fantasy make for a magical Passover celebration.
During a seder, a young Jewish girl gets antsy.
Miri is too noisy, and her parents don’t like the way she “slurp[s] down her grape juice” or “crunche[s] on a matzah.” She and Abby, her cat, find a way to flee the boring, long meal. They hide under the table, where a fish embroidered on the tablecloth seemingly comes to life, sea plants grow, and a seder submarine carries the pair under the sea. They find themselves at a seder attended by three wildly colored sea monsters, complete with a seder plate containing symbolic holiday foods. Everyone comes together to celebrate, the creatures, Abby, and Miri speaking, respectively, Sea Monster, Cat, and Hebrew (all translated into English in footnotes) and the others listening as Miri begins the four questions. They then leave the table for dancing. But Miri hears her parents calling, so she and Abby return to the sub and head home in time for Miri to sing seder songs and dance with her family. With overtones of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963), this read-aloud brings a creative element to the holiday. The humorous, vibrant illustrations depict most human characters as light-skinned, though one guest has dark brown skin. The author provides useful ideas for actively involving children in the holiday. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Marine fun and fantasy make for a magical Passover celebration. (note to families) (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781681155944
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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