Neighborly communication and care are at the heart of this excellent tale for young readers.
A boy covets his neighbor’s cat and finds both feline and human friendship in this illustrated children’s book.
When a friendly cat appears in his yard on Halloween, Benjy, a White boy, sees it as a sign that Tricks is meant to be his, though his parents have steadfastly refused to get any pets. Benjy’s mom insists the social cat can’t be a stray (“She’s too well fed. She smells too good”). Indeed, it turns out that the feline belongs to Erika, the new neighbor, who has started staying with her grandmother during the week while she attends a Deaf school in the area. Erika, a Black girl with curly hair, uses a hearing aid, lip-reads, and is learning sign language—and she makes the sign for stealing in front of Benjy. This inauspicious introduction becomes a friendship when Mrs. Currie, Erika’s grandmother, has to pick Benjy up from school after he helps rescue Tricks, whose real name is Fluffy, from the street’s misanthropic tomcat. Erika warms to Benjy and teaches him signs. When her parents suggest that Fluffy should live with them, rather than travel back and forth each weekend with Erika, Benjy proposes a win-win solution. Fluffy will live with Erika during the week and Benjy on weekends. Erika’s participation in Deaf culture is depicted as a source of well-being. She finds friends, a community, and a positive environment at her Deaf school. Pattison’s text is accessible for newly independent readers, and the simple story is undergirded by a satisfying emotional realism. Benjy’s single-minded pursuit of a pet—and his love of Fluffy—is one-note but deeply relatable. Pet lovers will be encouraged by Benjy’s and Erika’s caring, reasonable families. McBride’s sketches in graphite are useful visual cues for coming plot points in this gentle, engaging story. Erika’s signs are illustrated with clear diagrams, and an addendum teaches readers a few more.
Neighborly communication and care are at the heart of this excellent tale for young readers.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-62944-209-9
Page Count: 46
Publisher: Mims House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.
With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?
Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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