Elegant language, endearing characters, and irresistible images will warm hearts and minds with each reading.
A piglet and her grandmother lead a cozy and cultured life together on a hilltop in Paris—but something is missing.
Alice enjoys reading, making lists, and organizing buttons on her own as well as baking and eating crème brûlée with her beloved guardian. Sometimes, however, she yearns for “someone her own size to talk to.” The bottle she pitches into the Seine is carried by an octopus, a sea gull, and the current across the ocean to François, a lonely lighthouse keeper’s son (a dog). So begins a wonderfully preposterous correspondence in which Gordon’s sly humor and understanding of child logic (very reminiscent of William Steig’s) shine forth. When François inquires as to Alice’s whereabouts, she replies, after some thought: “I am… / …over here. What are you doing over there?” The seascapes, city scenes, and interior views, rendered in cheery, warm watercolors and pencil, are enriched with clippings that appear to be from an antique French catalog; labeled furniture and kitchen items add texture and whimsy. When the protagonist’s grandmother dies and the little pig goes to live with kindly Miss Clément (an antelope), readers will witness Alice’s withdrawal and grief (and François’ confusion at the silence), until “the dark clouds slowly packed up their things and shuffled into the distance, and the sun sprung forth.” A lighthouse visit and the resumption of baking show it is possible to accommodate loss into living.
Elegant language, endearing characters, and irresistible images will warm hearts and minds with each reading. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-55400-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.
Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.
There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781400247417
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: yesterday
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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