A stain is mundane, but this jovial yarn’s quite the opposite.
There’s a blue splotch on Daisy’s new white dress—but how did it get there?
When Daisy shows Mama the spot, Mama immediately asks, “How did that happen?” The answer is anything but immediate. Daisy begins reporting events that seem initially to be potential answers: “It all started when I was drawing during art class with a blue pen”; using blue chalk for hopscotch; eating blueberries. But none of these caused the spot, and Daisy’s reports veer into the fantastical: “then it started raining blueberries!”; blueberry rain becomes blueberry jam; the jam spouts like a geyser; Daisy surfs a wave of blueberry pie; a blue monster sobs blue tears. The ever stretching tale saves the real answer for the end, where its very ordinariness makes a funny cap to the previous adventure-filled possibilities. Sastrawinata-Lemay’s digital illustrations are ebullient, with soft textures, soft edges, and, naturally, many shades of blue. Daisy and Mama are anthropomorphic cats with wide, round eyes (and the blue monster has nine eyes, all googly). Daisy often stares directly out at readers, which sometimes feels incongruous but also emphasizes that she’s the storyteller, not just to Mama, but to readers. Oddly, although their cat-shaped mouths can make plenty of varied expressions, Mama often sports an empty smile that doesn’t match the moment.
A stain is mundane, but this jovial yarn’s quite the opposite. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-02459-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney Press
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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