Engaging color photographs of Angelica and her grandmother, who lives right next door in a San Francisco housing project, accompany the simple text that highlights the contemporary life of a Hispanic family. Some older sepia-tone family photographs also appear to document Francisca’s earlier life in New Mexico. With parents born in the US and grandparents born in Spain, Francisca does not appear to have Mexican roots, but because of her New Mexican roots, many of the foods mentioned in the text are Mexican, such as burritos and tortillas. A recipe is given for calabacitas, a vegetable stew including tomatoes, zucchini, and corn that has variants in several countries. Each two-page spread has a simple sentence in very large type that young children may be able to read themselves, followed by several paragraphs in good-sized, though smaller type that provide additional details. Angelica’s parents are not mentioned much, but the emphasis is on the grandmother-grandchild relationship. The celebration of Three King’s Day (Epiphany) is described as one Hispanic holiday, but its context within the larger Christmas season is not specified, nor is the date given. This is one in a series that the prolific Morris (Families, 2000, etc.) has written about grandmothers from different ethnic groups and the format includes a recipe, a craft (here a rather generic sock doll is featured), and some instructions for finding out about family history. Simple pictures by Linenthal (who has also taken the fine photographs) accompany the recipe and the craft and show a family tree at the end, but these painted illustrations appear out of place within the photo-essay format. Teachers, grandparents, and parents will enjoy sharing this with children of all cultures and then moving on to their own family memories. (Nonfiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7613-2315-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84880-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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