An earnest if slightly unfocused reassurance that wheels won’t slow a cool grandma down.
A Jewish girl and her brother spend Shabbat with their grandmother, who uses a motorized scooter.
Kate is thrilled that Bubbie is taking her and her little brother, Nate, to British Columbia’s Granville Island Public Market to shop for Rosh Hashanah—especially since Bubbie has a surprise! But when Bubbie’s surprise turns out to be her new scooter, Kate is disappointed. She misses “the Bubbie she used to have. That Bubbie danced and took them to climate marches.” But as they navigate the crowded market, the scooter with its tooting horn proves handy, enabling Bubbie to carry heavy groceries and comfort a fussy Nate. Bubbie can even fly a kite in the park, where a girl using a manual wheelchair pronounces her “so cool!” Realizing that Bubbie is “still Bubbie, even on the scooter,” Kate shows her grandmother a book about suffragist Frances Willard and names the scooter Gladys after Willard’s bicycle (and author Klein’s own scooter). The trio board a festively decorated Gladys with a resounding “BEEP BEEP, BUBBIE!”; the last page finds them attending a climate march. The text is occasionally stilted, and the introduction to Willard, though informative, abruptly shifts readers’ focus. However, Eudes-Pascal’s colorful drawings and attention to background details brightly convey the bustling market and Bubbie’s cheery disposition. Kate and her family present White; background characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.8-by-19.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52.8% of actual size.)
An earnest if slightly unfocused reassurance that wheels won’t slow a cool grandma down. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-926890-23-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tradewind Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 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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