An earnest, moving expression of what the world needs now—and what children have always needed: love, sweet love.
Cut-paper collages encourage readers to remember that “love wins,” even during painful, confusing times.
Berger populates this buoying book with people of all hues, genders, and love configurations: same-sex couples, adoptive parents, old partners, young lovebirds, interracial couples, children, lots of pets. They stand together, aligned in a powerful, peaceful phalanx (many holding LOVE banners and posters) on the final pages—three double-page spreads of little people in long, long lines. Studying the artwork’s embedded ephemera (handwritten letters, grid papers, old catalogs, and clippings) evokes thoughts about how humans can connect across time. Between the book’s rallying beginning and end, succinct, powerful illustrations depict the worry and sadness that surface in both a small child’s life and the grown-up world. A brown-skinned girl tries (literally) to lift a heavy heart (shape) off the ground; a dragon hovers in an enveloping dark sky; fog makes a path forward hard to see. Berger reminds readers that there are helpers, always, “steady as stone,” with a palm outstretched, open, offering a smooth rock. Accompanying a picture of a handshake (one dark-skinned and another light-skinned), she asserts “we are stronger together.” Adults might hear echoes of a recent campaign, but children will see only the linking of hands atop a fertile green backdrop and recognize an empowering affirmation.
An earnest, moving expression of what the world needs now—and what children have always needed: love, sweet love. (Picture book. 2-10)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-269413-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
May this endearing pair have more sneakily educational outings.
The ground is all white and cold, and Squirrel has no idea why.
Awakening to find the grass is gone, Squirrel panics and calls for Bird. Ever patient Bird explains that sometimes it snows in winter, and the grass just gets covered. Bird suggests they play in the snow, but Squirrel says it’s too cold…until Bird introduces Squirrel to snowballs. Suddenly, Squirrel loves snow. Bird also explains that snowflakes are all different shapes. Squirrel’s skeptical. “They’re all small, white blobs.” Then Squirrel yells, “BIRD! There is SMOKE coming out of my mouth! Is it because I ate a snowflake?” Bird notes that sometimes it gets so cold that you can see your breath. A frozen puddle sends Squirrel sliding into a giant snow squirrel. Squirrel’s pretty sure that snow squirrel stole some hazelnuts. Bird explains that’s impossible: “It isn’t real—it’s just a SNOW squirrel.” When the snow melts overnight, Squirrel is convinced the snow squirrel took it all—but at least the hazelnuts are still there (the builder of the snow squirrel had used them for the eyes and mouth). Hemming’s tale, which relies on speech bubbles and text in several different fonts for emphasis (and overreaction), is as funny as the first two in the series, while Slater’s digitally created, colorful illustrations add some slapstick giggles. The book finishes with a double-page spread of snow facts that address Squirrel’s concerns.
May this endearing pair have more sneakily educational outings. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781464226786
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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