Frothy and fun, Nancy’s latest adventure feels as fresh as her first appearance.
Given the obvious opportunities, it’s remarkable that it took O’Connor and Glasser eight years to place their pulchritudinous picture-book phenom into a wedding-themed tale—but the wait was worth it.
The setup is simple: Nancy’s uncle is getting married, and the whole family is invited. The fact that the wedding is in two weeks might give readers a clue that it’s not exactly a formal affair, but Nancy immediately assumes that: a) it will be very fancy; and b) she’ll be the flower girl. A tackle box packed into the car along with the luggage provides a second clue to the true nature of the event. Nonetheless, the author and illustrator treat readers to a vision of opulence and elegance as the family arrives at a grand hotel and celebrates in style. Turns out that’s just a dream, though, and the ultimate destination is actually a lakeside cabin. Though Uncle Cal and his fiancee, Dawn, have their own ideas about how to get hitched, Dawn is savvy enough to accept a loan from Nancy that adds a certain over-the-top element to her ensemble and satisfies Nancy’s ever present urge to make the world more beautiful. Appealing, expressive illustrations complement the text’s cheerful tone and help to keep the sweet story from becoming saccharine.
Frothy and fun, Nancy’s latest adventure feels as fresh as her first appearance. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-208319-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet notion that falls flat.
A hit song reimagined as a book about parental love.
Featured in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1, Perri’s “A Thousand Years” deals with the speaker’s fear of romantic love. In picture-book form, it explores a parent’s unwavering love for a child, who grows from an infant into a toddler over the course of the narrative. The caregiver expresses awe when the youngster learns to stand and fear that the child might fall while beginning to walk. “I have spent every day waiting for you,” the parent says. “Darling, don’t be afraid.” What the child might fear isn’t clear from the joyful balloon- and rainbow-filled illustrations. The story borders on cloying, and words that might work when sung and accompanied by music don’t sound fresh on the page: “Time goes by. / You grow ever stronger as you fly.” The refrain, however, is a lovely sentiment: “I have loved you for a thousand years. / I’ll love you for a thousand more.” Perri’s legion of fans may flock to this version, illustrated by Ruiz with sparkling stars, bubbles, and big-eyed toddlers, but it doesn’t hold together as a narrative or an ode, as it’s billed, and it’s a long way from the original song. The child is tan-skinned, the parent is lighter-skinned, and other characters are diverse.
A sweet notion that falls flat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622599
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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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