Deftly intertwines observations on nature with moments in a child’s everyday life.
Seasons and swallows whirl through a year in a child’s rural life.
Favoring denim overalls and long brown hair with bangs, the light-skinned narrator romps as the swallows’ lives unfold. A small barn, house, and henhouse are the backdrop for the changes that 12 months bring to rolling farmland. Vivid language enlivens this quiet appreciation of avian life. In spring, the swallows’ nests “bloom with hungry chicks, their buttercup-bright mouths open wide”; the acrobatic birds “rocket,” “flit,” “slip,” “skim,” and “loop-the-loop.” The narrator, accompanied by a delighted dog, races downhill like the birds. In summer, dressed in a pink-checked swimsuit, the child jumps through a sprinkler while swallows fly through the spray, “their blue backs glittering.” In autumn the narrator is “cozy-sweatered”; the idling school bus “grumbles.” Winter brings snow and chickadees while the swallows are far south. In early spring, the “snuggle-sweatered” child’s rainboots pinch. Finally, the swallows reappear: “Their sharp wings flash like scissors as they slice through the sky,” and the narrator, “new-booted and sweater-free,” welcomes them. A refrain—“days slip by”—conveys the passage of time. Graceful barn swallows, with curved, tapering wings, pointed split tails, and aerial acrobatics, are a gift to a skilled illustrator, and Mason delivers. Compositions are varied, with close-ups and middle-distance portrayals, while the birds’ migration offers sky-view perspectives. Against a subdued palette, the blue swallows shimmer.
Deftly intertwines observations on nature with moments in a child’s everyday life. (swallow facts) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781534112742
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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