A fine addition to the positive-thinking shelf.
Does Kat’s song actually “make things better”?
One dismal, rainy day, Kat, a gray tabby kitten with white socks and a pink nose, decides that she’s going to write a song. It’s hard work. When she’s done, she calls it the “Amazing Song to Make Things Better”—and after she sings it, the sun comes out. Thinking it was her song that improved the weather, Kat walks down the street singing. The song must be magic, because the sun comes out from behind a cloud, Dog doesn’t bark at her for a change, and Turtle finds his last missing sock. However, Kat’s song doesn’t fix Bunny’s broken skateboard; maybe the song isn’t magic. Bird sees Kat feeling low (she’s sprawled, supine, on the grass with her guitar beside her and a woeful look on her face) and knows the perfect fix: all her animal buddies singing Kat’s song to her! Foley’s digitally created, soft-toned, cartoon illustrations of happy, pudgy animals in a tidy, suburban setting pair nicely with his gentle, musical tale about self-doubt and making the world a little brighter. Front endpapers feature the music to Kat’s song, all the words of which are “meow meow meow,” with the translation to English on the rear endpapers.
A fine addition to the positive-thinking shelf. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0680-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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