Like the flimsy bird costume, this story flops to the ground due to lack of real substance.
The age-old theme of unrequited love is told in this monochromatic minimalist rendering of the story of an unnamed boy who creates a bird costume and wears it all day in order to attract the attention of a young girl, with whom he is hopelessly in love.
The boy tells how he draws pictures of Sylvia, including “one with hearts and a smiling sun.” Confusingly, these pictures are not shown, only sequences in the construction of a whole-body bird costume. The reason for this unfolds elliptically. Sylvia loves birds and “gently cares for them when they are injured.” She is shown holding a bird amid a collage of engravings of different kinds of birds, not identified by species. Although she is described as having “birds on her pants and dresses” and wearing “bird barrettes in her hair,” she is not illustrated with any of these attributes, just as a simply drawn figure watching a bird through binoculars. In spite of the challenges and mocking from classmates, the boy wears the costume built in the opening pages all day at school, drawing warmth and courage from the disguise. His strategy is implausibly rewarded with a romantic embrace from Sylvia. Guridi’s line drawings appear on buff-colored backgrounds; both Sylvia and the narrator appear to be fair-haired and -skinned.
Like the flimsy bird costume, this story flops to the ground due to lack of real substance. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77138-621-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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
Whether spoken by a dinosaur or a human, this parental message clearly radiates “I’ve loved you from the start.”
The cover’s glowing golden stars are but a small hint of the parent-child love inside.
In this companion book to the creators’ I Love You, My Little Unicorn (2022), a world full of digitally created dinosaurs illustrated in eye-catching colors dominates the pages. From the start, it’s clear that dinosaur parents have the same hopes and dreams for their offspring that human parents do. Readers don’t have to be dinosaur fans to smile when the parent-and-child dinosaur pairs playfully interact and share loving glances. Take special note of the ankylosauruses, whose tails arc to form a heart beneath a sky filled with heart-shaped clouds. The text in verse shares words of unconditional parental love and support and wisdom (“please remember all these things / that I want you to know”), appropriate for humans and dinos alike. “Roar with all your might!” “Spread your wings and fly.” “Use your voice, and ask for help.” There’s even a caveat that some “days will be dark / and other shades of gray.” But “there’s always brightness up ahead.” While the loving sentiments in the storytelling are clear, words are sometimes inverted to make the rhyme work, and the verse doesn’t always follow a consistent meter, but prereading will let the story shine during quiet snuggle times.
Whether spoken by a dinosaur or a human, this parental message clearly radiates “I’ve loved you from the start.” (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728268361
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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