Poet-photographer, Smith (Tall Tales, p. 124) offers a delectable assortment of chubby-fisted, cherub-cheeked, African-American babies. Page after page of crisply focused, color photographs feature infants gurgling, giggling, and yawning. The hues of the babies’ skin are lovingly compared to sugary treats, “. . . bubbling brown sugar . . .” and “. . . honey-colored hands. . . .” Toes, cheeks, bellies, hands, each are featured in gentle rhythmic language—“Creamy caresses of soft peanut butter feet, turn tiny little toes into sweet and tasty treats”—which elevates the book out of the cute-photos-of-babies pack. As a concept book, it has a few tricks up its sleeve. Each naked baby is draped in brightly colored fabric and framed in a matching color providing cues to the readers that this is a celebration of the black rainbow. Observant children will notice that the composite pages have duplicate pictures flipped. Toddlers will pour over these images again and again. No candy is sweeter than these scrumptious babies in all of their delicious colors. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7868-0622-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Jump at the Sun
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
In this entry in the Growing Tree series, the publisher copyrights the text, while Carpenter provides illustrations for the story; here, the three billy goats named Gruff play on a nasty troll’s greed to get where the grass is greenest. Logic has never been the long suit of this tale: Instead of letting the two smaller billy goats be terrorized by the mean and ugly troll, children wonder, why doesn’t the biggest billy goat step in sooner? It’s still a good introduction to comparatives, and the repetitiveness of the story invites participation. The artwork matches the story: The characters are suitably menacing, quivering, or stalwart, and the perspectives allow readers to be right there in the thick of the action. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: June 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-694-01033-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HarperFestival
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
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