In this cozy home, open hearts prevail.
Wallace explores the notion of home by personifying a house who loses one family and slowly accepts another.
When his beloved first family leaves, “Walter’s feelings were hurt.” He grimly relishes his browning lawn, rusting pipes, and sagging floors. When a brown-skinned girl and her lighter-skinned mother move in, Walter feels cramped and resentful. Little Girl feels unsettled, too, though she’s reassured by her capable mom. Wallace endows Walter with poltergeistlike responses to the new family’s intrusion: He slams shutters, hobbles the oven, and sabotages the fireplace. He observes Little Girl sniffling while addressing her father, holding his picture: “I miss you, Papa. You’d like our new house. He’s funny, like you.” Walter’s emotional response yields broken pipes as his “tears” flow through the house. Mama handles this latest setback with buckets and aplomb, asking her daughter to bring towels. When Little Girl discovers a photo of the former family, she realizes why the house is sad. “I know what it’s like to have someone move away. But it doesn’t mean you’re alone.” Her matter-of-fact empathy affects Walter: he feels understood and “livable” once more. Hsu conveys Walter’s emotions through dot-and-dash facial features that appear on the roof or walls. Her bright, detailed pictures elevate a potentially maudlin premise, and the project succeeds by spotlighting the growing emotional intelligence of Little Girl and Walter. Both former and current families present as multiracial. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
In this cozy home, open hearts prevail. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-31641-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.
In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.
Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.
A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250393975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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