A lyrical dance through the seasons. This will be a switch for fans of Gray's Small Green Snake (1994). The poetry is retained, but the mood is soft and nostalgic. Mama is a dancer, and she shares her joy of movement with her daughter, who narrates. ``We'd dance a frog-hopping leaf-growing flower-opening hello spring ballet'' and then drink sassafras tea, she recalls. A winter dance includes making snow angels, and a promenade imitating the clumsiness of snowmen. Beverages mark the seasons (lemonade in summer, cocoa in winter) as do colors (a red-orange summer morning, paper-white cut-out snowflakes). As the book closes, the now-grown daughter ties on her toe shoes and performs ballet in exalted remembrance. Col¢n (Sharon Wyeth's Always My Dad, p. 236) gives his illustrations a 1940s feel; his palette of pine, green, maroon, violet, and gold glows warmly. Fine lines scratched into the drawings add a sense of motion beyond the dancing figures, highlighting the billowing clouds, rustling leaves, and the splashed-in puddles. The reflective mood of the story may appealat firstmore to adults, but the sharing of this book between generations creates a nice parallel to the intimacy of parent and child in the story. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09470-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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