A good title to share when talking about death with children.
Old Bear and baby Bird become close friends.
After Bear returns unsuccessful fledgling Bird to his nest, they forge a friendship based on a strong commitment to helping each other find the best berries and avoid hunters. They are sad when Bird flies off for the winter, but Bear hibernates, and come spring, their friendship resumes. And so it goes for a few years, but then age begins to catch up with Bear. Sadly, Bird migrates south, and when he returns, he cannot find Bear. Instead, he finds Bear’s granddaughter, who explains to him that Bear has died. The granddaughter bear helps Bird through his grief by encouraging him to remember the good times that they shared. A new friendship emerges as Bird shows Bear’s granddaughter the way to the best berries. Skofield’s writing is tender and, with adult guidance, accessible to young readers who may be dealing with the death of an elderly loved one. His narrative features short sentences and frequent conversations between the animals. Thermes’ watercolor art, both full-page and spot, is bright and inviting, highlighting the contrast in size between the animals.
A good title to share when talking about death with children. (Picture book. 4 -7)Pub Date: March 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-58536-835-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
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