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I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ALL THE STARS

Name: I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ALL THE STARS
Author: Becky Davies
ISBN: 978-1-68010-263-5

by Becky Davies ; illustrated by Dana Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021

True love may last “longer than a day, a week, a month, a year,” but the memory of this book may not.

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A poem of love is shared between two young children throughout an adventurous day.

Two children with pale skin and stringy hair cavort across backgrounds that range from realistic settings of a grassy hill at night or a boat on a body of water to fanciful locations such as the inside of a raindrop and a ladder made of starlight. All the while, the text of the book professes a love that is greater than “all the stars / that shimmer in the night” and is “softer than a snowflake dance / as crystals gently twirl.” The poem is sweet, the sort of sentimental verse that some people eat up and others find unpleasantly treacly. Readers with a determined sweet tooth will find a selection of vocabulary words (shimmer, endless, swirl, etc.) and concepts that will springboard young minds to abstract conversations: What is “sweeter than rain,” for instance, and what is “wider than the world”? The illustrations—silver linework primarily over navy with pops of a salmon-y pink—are pleasant if somewhat characterless. The text on most pages is set in the same silver, a design choice that may make the words difficult to discern, especially when they appear against the salmon-y pink. Educators and librarians with excellent eyesight will find this a serviceable player in love-themed storytimes.

True love may last “longer than a day, a week, a month, a year,” but the memory of this book may not. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-68010-263-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TO MAKE A BOOK
by Becky Davies ; illustrated by Patricia Hu

- BOOK REVIEW
CITIES OF THE WORLD
by Becky Davies ; illustrated by Josie Portillo

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE TURTLE AND THE CHANGING SEA
by Becky Davies ; illustrated by Jennie Poh

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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GRUMPY MONKEY

by Suzanne Lang ; illustrated by Max Lang ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2018

Though Jim may have been grumpy because a chimp’s an ape and not a monkey, readers will enjoy and maybe learn from his...

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It’s a wonderful day in the jungle, so why’s Jim Panzee so grumpy?

When Jim woke up, nothing was right: "The sun was too bright, the sky was too blue, and bananas were too sweet." Norman the gorilla asks Jim why he’s so grumpy, and Jim insists he’s not. They meet Marabou, to whom Norman confides that Jim’s grumpy. When Jim denies it again, Marabou points out that Jim’s shoulders are hunched; Jim stands up. When they meet Lemur, Lemur points out Jim’s bunchy eyebrows; Jim unbunches them. When he trips over Snake, Snake points out Jim’s frown…so Jim puts on a grimacelike smile. Everyone has suggestions to brighten his mood: dancing, singing, swinging, swimming…but Jim doesn’t feel like any of that. He gets so fed up, he yells at his animal friends and stomps off…then he feels sad about yelling. He and Norman (who regrets dancing with that porcupine) finally just have a sit and decide it’s a wonderful day to be grumpy—which, of course, makes them both feel a little better. Suzanne Lang’s encouragement to sit with your emotions (thus allowing them to pass) is nearly Buddhist in its take, and it will be great bibliotherapy for the crabby, cranky, and cross. Oscar-nominated animator Max Lang’s cartoony illustrations lighten the mood without making light of Jim’s mood; Jim has comically long arms, and his facial expressions are quite funny.

Though Jim may have been grumpy because a chimp’s an ape and not a monkey, readers will enjoy and maybe learn from his journey. (Picture book. 4-8)