Purposive but pleasing, this gentle lesson in diversity, diligence and the dignity of hard work offers an appealing balance...
Shannon and Paschkis provide a charming multicultural answer to the title question, creating in the process a confection that, while it may be most appreciated by socially conscious adults, will tempt young appetites as well.
The brief text is composed of rhyming couplets that appear as two phrases on facing pages or as several short sentences across multiple pages or double-page spreads. The actions described may be quite different, but many of the simple sentences start the same way, keeping the focus squarely on the workers and their contributions: “Hands that make the cookie sheet”; “Hands that feed and milk the cow.” While some of the locations may seem exotic, the mother and child busy baking in their cozy kitchen will be familiar to many young readers. Paschkis’ folk-art–inspired gouache illustrations suit the simple language and the sentiment conveyed perfectly. Brightly colored, graphically appealing cookies on the cover invite readers to sample the story within, while the repeating motifs of sunshine, flowers, birds and butterflies that decorate the cookie jar appear again dancing in the blue sky and decorating the fertile land. Shannon ends with a recipe for sugar cookies, just in case readers are inspired to bake a few themselves.
Purposive but pleasing, this gentle lesson in diversity, diligence and the dignity of hard work offers an appealing balance of art and information. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9197-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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BOOK REVIEW
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