Should delight little ones with rhythmic and repetitive words and actions.
An Inuit child’s flight from a bumblebee sends them running across Nunavut.
Happily playing on the playground, Apita is startled by the buzzing of the bee. Frightened, Apita cries, “Qaariaq, qaariaq, qaariaq,” which translates to “Don’t come near me!” This determined bee follows Apita from one community to the next as the kid, clad in a puffy red-and-white–checked coat, runs and runs. Three days later, Apita reaches the town of Igloolik, but the bee is there, buzzing, “Apita, wait for me!” Apita does not, running from the unwelcome insect for five more days. When Apita reaches Rankin Inlet, they stop, puffing from the effort. The bee has followed the child again, but this time Apita has stopped long enough to hear the bee’s protestation: “Apita, I won’t hurt you!” Apita finally understands, responding, “Come here, dear little bee.…I’m not afraid of you!” Finally Apita understands that they’ve been running away from an energetic playmate. Inuk singer/songwriter Han adapts her song “Qaariaq” for this brief picture book, incorporating lots of repetition that will lend the story to reading aloud. (Readers who do not speak Inuktitut will be grateful for the glossary and pronunciation guide on the final page.) Peturs’ soft line-and-color illustrations depict a treeless landscape dotted with sprays of small purple flowers, likely purple saxifrage. A large red school building greets Apita in Igloolik and an inuksuk in Rankin Inlet, embracing both modernity and tradition. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Should delight little ones with rhythmic and repetitive words and actions. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-772-27300-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Animated and educational.
A hare and a ground squirrel banter about the differences between related animals that are often confused for one another.
Jack is “no Flopsy, Mopsy, or Cottontail,” but a “H-A-R-E, hare!” Like sheep and goats, or turtles and tortoises, rabbits and hares may look similar, but hares are bigger, their fur changes color in the winter, and they are born with their eyes wide open. As the ground squirrel (not to be mistaken for a chipmunk (even though Jack cheekily calls it “Chippie”) and Jack engage in playful discussion about animals, a sneaky coyote prowls after them through the Sonoran Desert. This picture book conveys the full narrative in spirited, speech-bubbled dialogue set on expressive illustrations of talking animals. Dark outlines around the characters make their shapes pop against the softly blended colors of the desert backgrounds. Snappy back-and-forth paired with repetition and occasional rhyme enhances the story’s appeal as a read-aloud. As the story progresses, the colors of the sky shift from dawn to dusk, providing subtle, visual bookends for the narrative. One page of backmatter offers a quick guide to eight easily confused pairs, and a second turns a subsequent exploration of the book into a seek-and-find of 15 creatures (and one dessert) hidden in the desert. Unfortunately, while most of the creatures from the seek-and-find appear in poses that match the illustrations in the challenge, not all of them are consistently represented. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 53.3% of actual size.)
Animated and educational. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-12506-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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