A child’s fear is sweetly tempered by the support of an older sister’s comforting, natural solution.
On the first night of Sukkot, Daniel is apprehensive about sleeping in the dark sukkah without a night light.
Older sister Naomi likes to show off her knowledge acquired in Hebrew school, so she tells Daniel all about the holiday. She explains how Jews remember the ancestors’ journey from Egypt, why the sukkah is built, and the reason for an open roof made of tree branches. Once the building and decorating of their sukkah is finished, Daniel’s quiet anxiety parallels Naomi’s eager excitement through the family’s outdoor dinner. At bedtime, the siblings create a makeshift sleeping area in a corner of the sukkah. In the dark, scary nighttime noises and shadowy images disturb Daniel to the point where he begins to go inside. But to his surprise, Naomi, who has a touch of the heebie-jeebies herself, encourages him to stay and look up through the branches of the sukkah’s open roof. He sees a sky full of stars, or “night lights,” as they glowed for the ancestors thousands of years ago. Soft paintings provide a contemporary view of a White Jewish family with some parallel historical scenes of the forbearers making their way through the desert. The interwoven explanation of the holiday within the context of the story is enhanced with an afterword that references today’s refugees, who must live under precarious circumstances in temporary shelters.
A child’s fear is sweetly tempered by the support of an older sister’s comforting, natural solution. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68115-547-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A holiday outing that doesn’t quite satisfy.
In this follow-up to singer Parton and co-author Perl’s Billy the Kid Makes It Big (2023), literal and figurative bumps in the road imperil the touring canine country star’s promise to be home for Christmas.
Inspired by one of Parton’s holiday songs, the tale sees Billy, a small brown French bulldog, and bandmates Bo, Buster, and Binky boarding a tour bus for “pawsome” glimpses of natural wonders along with meetings with fans and “puparazzi.” Then, although Billy has sent many letters home promising to be there for the holiday, an invitation to play Barkafeller Center on Christmas Day instantly changes his tune. “Billy was happy. Though he still felt a little…he wasn’t sure what.” Readers may be excused for having mixed feelings about his mixed feelings, not to mention his tersely unapologetic note to the folks. But when, thanks to a bus-busting rock in the road on Christmas Eve, it looks like the band will have to contrive their own celebration (“Silent night, howly night”), Billy remembers that he started making music in the first place for his loved ones. He has no problem bagging the big concert (Fans? What fans? Contract? What contract?) when Dolly herself rolls up in her own bus to offer a ride back to his “Tennessee mountain home” in time for a small show for “the most important audience in the world.” While Billy cuts an endearing figure in Haley’s cartoonish illustrations, his willingness to disappoint first family, then fans may have readers feeling less than cheery.
A holiday outing that doesn’t quite satisfy. (lyrics to Parton’s “Comin’ Home for Christmas”) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780593755006
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
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