Skip.
A fox wants to preserve seasonal colors throughout the year.
Each year, as spring progresses to summer and then autumn, a red fox appreciatively watches a garden shift from pale hues to “flaming orange, vibrant red, and golden yellows.” But in winter, when snow buries everything, he longs for the other three seasons. Can he preserve nature’s colors past their cycle? He gathers petals, but a deer eats them; he collects pebbles (a confusing representation of summer—wouldn’t their color be stable year-round?), but the pond rises over them; he arranges autumn leaves, but gusts of wind blow them away. Only an accidental encounter with a human reveals a way to keep nature’s colors past their time: with paint, on a canvas. The painter is Claude Monet—identified in the story only through his name and the garden’s arching green bridge. Waites’ illustrations offer no bridge to Monet or impressionism, though a brief author’s note provides some introduction. Trees, petals, lawns, and the fox are smoothly filled-in shapes with neat edges. Grass blades are clear and straight. There’s no abstraction, no content made from dots or daubs. The tiny canvases depicted do feature dots, but they do not convey impressionism. Many illustrations curl tidily inside a clean circle, itself sometimes perched inside a clean square, divorcing the feel even more from impressionism. Illustrations regarding a fine artist needn’t mimic their work, but this bland, simplistic style highlighting smoothly curved edges forms no visual pointer to Monet or impressionism.
Skip. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7643-5705-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schiffer
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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