A sweet, quiet book to help kids learn that as fast as feelings come, they can also go.
When Mum wakes her children, she finds that little Huffalots have replaced them.
Mornings are hard. The kids don’t want to get up, but they don’t want to stay in bed. They don’t want to get dressed, but they don’t want to stay in their nightclothes either. And without a doubt, “they don’t like each other.” There is a way to handle Huffalots, though, and it starts with breakfast. Slowly, with a bit of help from each other, the two little Huffalots become Huffalittles and eventually Lovealots. They play delightedly together and give each other flowers and feathers and hugs. But most importantly, they give “lovely cuddles.” By the end of the day, Mum has exhausted herself and has become a bit of a Huffalot herself. Can the children use what they learned today to help Mum find her inner Lovealot? A soft, pastel palette and attention to detail bring to life the children’s world, as they are the center of the story. The kids’ faces reflect their changing feelings, going from squinty scowls to smiles to broad grins, helping young readers to identify emotions. Readers will notice the children managing their emotions and helping each other to have a good day—an empowering sight. The book’s British origins show in cadence and some vocabulary choices. Family members appear White. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.25-by-19.5-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A sweet, quiet book to help kids learn that as fast as feelings come, they can also go. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72841-579-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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