Gender and stereotyping are popular themes for picture books; readers are blessed with the opportunity to choose almost any...
A rhyming story about being yourself.
Travis likes basketball, dress-up, and ballet. In wooden, unnecessary rhymes, he comes across bullies, both boys and girls: “Sometimes my classmates, / When on the playground / Like staring and judging / And cutting me down.” Confident Travis stands up to his gender-policing peers, declaring “I am who I am! / There’s no boy and girl line. / In sports or in dress-up, / I’ll sparkle and shine. // The toys that we play with, / Or clothes that we wear, / express who we are / And our natural flair.” Illustrations directly mirror the text in blocky, flat graphics. The hammer-headed message, that kids should express themselves regardless of gender stereotypes, is fine. Excruciating verse, with rhymes both wrenched and forced, detracts significantly from the already-uninspired story. At one point Travis, a black child with short, natural hair, confusingly says “I swish back my hair”; in the backmatter readers learn that the author was inspired by a former student, a white boy with much more swishable hair. The haphazard selection of other inspirations includes Coco Chanel and Langston Hughes. “Just like Travis, these people struggled against the opinions of others, but they persevered and soon dazzled in their own ways,” an anodyne way to refer to misogyny, racism, and homophobia.
Gender and stereotyping are popular themes for picture books; readers are blessed with the opportunity to choose almost any other . (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9976085-6-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cardinal Rule Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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