An uplifting canine tale that encourages positivity and appreciation.
A dog feels grateful in this third installment of a picture-book series.
Before Jake, a small, white canine, found a loving forever home, he lived alone on the streets. During this “very scary” time, Jake explains, he “wished for even the simplest of things to help me feel better.” Repeating the phrase “I am so grateful,” Jake describes what he values. Some of the things are practical, like water, food, and the ability to read. Others are fun, as when Jake says, “I am so grateful I can…PICK.” The image shows Jake and a squirrel friend selecting a movie to see. Jake also recognizes kindness and demonstrates his willingness to assist others. Ultimately, the pooch cherishes his friends and the world around him. Jake is a sprightly protagonist, and young readers will enjoy his energetic actions and thoughtful realizations. Hardy’s tale will inspire kids to consider the wonderful things in their own lives. LL’s robust illustrations offer delightful, busy scenes with vivid details. While the spreads mainly mirror Jake’s experiences, they also feature different animals in related scenarios. For instance, when Jake says, “I am so grateful I can…WALK!” he saunters on a leash while an accompanying image shows a bandaged horse strolling and a sign reading “SECOND CHANCE: Horse Physical Therapy.” When Jake helpfully distributes water bottles after a community crisis, supplemental pictures include a squirrel inviting a lone raccoon to play and a beaver visiting the “WOOD RECYCLING CENTER.”
An uplifting canine tale that encourages positivity and appreciation.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-956211-00-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christine Hardy DBA Jake's World
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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