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WAITING FOR GOLIATH

Name: WAITING FOR GOLIATH
Author: Antje Damm
ISBN: 978-1-7765-7141-3

by Antje Damm ; illustrated by Antje Damm ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2017

An only seemingly simple but endlessly sweet meditation on patience

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A lone bear enacts one half of a faithful friendship.

Bear, a friendly-looking ursine with light brown fur, saucer eyes, and a pointy snout “has been sitting and waiting since dawn” at a bus stop next to a cherry tree. He’s “waiting for Goliath,” he tells the world at large. Damm constructs her scene in three dimensions, a painted twig with flowers pasted on standing in as the tree, and cut, painted pieces of cardboard acting as grass and shrubbery as well as the bench Bear sits on. Bear himself is drawn on paper that’s cut and sometimes articulated, so he can be posed realistically (and humorously). Although the perspective never changes, readers will be transfixed by the diorama, watching how shadows cast by the grasses change as first hours and then seasons go by. A robin raises a family in the tree, which blossoms, bears fruit, and then drops its leaves before winter comes. And still, there’s no Goliath—indeed, “sometimes Bear forgets that he is waiting for Goliath.” When he wakes up the next spring following hibernation, “he hears a faint noise like a hand sliding slowly across paper. Goliath is coming!” Adult readers may be astonished when Goliath appears, unlike Godot; child readers will simply be charmed to see that Goliath is a snail. With not a hint of irritation, Bear finally leaves his post with Goliath to play.

An only seemingly simple but endlessly sweet meditation on patience . (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-7765-7141-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Gecko Press

Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOLF AND THE FLY
by Antje Damm ; illustrated by Antje Damm ; translated by Catherine Chidgey

- BOOK REVIEW
THE VISITOR
by Antje Damm ; illustrated by Antje Damm ; translated by Sally-Ann Spencer

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BUG?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST I SEE YOU
by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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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)