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THE PET STORE WINDOW

Name: THE PET STORE WINDOW
Author: Jairo Buitrago
ISBN: 9781773064598

by Jairo Buitrago ; illustrated by Rafael Yockteng ; translated by Elisa Amado ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2023

A gratifying friendship tale rich in socioeconomic subtext.

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Three animals languish at a pet store.

Many animals have arrived and left, adopted by loving owners, but one dog has never been chosen. He watches the world pass from behind the shop window with the other animals waiting for a home, wondering why no one loves him. Each night, when Ana, who works in the shop, goes home, the dog curls up in his box. When the dog, a hedgehog, and a mouse are the only pets left, the store’s owner announces the shop will close. No one adopts the three remaining pets, so Ana takes them home, despite the financial burden of their care. Ana, her grandmother, and the animals watch the world from the apartment window, because “until things get better it’s good to be together.” The story tugs at heartstrings, evoking sympathy for the dog (unnamed until the last line), but Ana is underdeveloped and may come off to some readers as surprisingly ambivalent toward the pets when the moment comes to adopt them: Her decision is motivated by notions of duty or underdog solidarity rather than friendship or love, though both Ana and her grandmother are clearly affectionate with the animals. Yockteng’s digital illustrations are often moving and effective at enhancing the subtle themes of class present in the text. Ana has dark hair and medium-toned skin.

A gratifying friendship tale rich in socioeconomic subtext. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023

ISBN: 9781773064598

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE SMALL HILL WHERE THE GIRLS TAKE OFF THEIR SHOES
by Jairo Buitrago ; illustrated by Linda Wolfsgruber ; translated by Elisa Amado

- BOOK REVIEW
AFTERWARD, EVERYTHING WAS DIFFERENT
by Jairo Buitrago ; illustrated by Rafael Yockteng ; translated by Elisa Amado

- BOOK REVIEW
WAYS TO MAKE FRIENDS
by Jairo Buitrago ; illustrated by Mariana Ruiz Johnson

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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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)