Simple without being oversimplified and reassuring, countering fears with love.
A young elephant copes with his grandmother’s progressive memory loss.
Eldon loves asking his grandmother Big Ella to remind him of stories from his past. When Big Ella starts asking Eldon for reminders, at first he thinks it’s funny (she asks where her hat is while already wearing it). Eldon doesn’t understand what’s going on; he reacts by asking her for even more stories. For a time, the mutual reminders work well in maintaining the normalcy in their relationship. But that changes when Big Ella can’t remember their way home or recognize her house. Worse, finally Big Ella has to ask Eldon to remind her of his name and then asks him who she is. He replies: “You are my very own Big Ella! I’ve loved you and you’ve loved me forever! I will always remember that and always remind you!” The spare, efficient text allows the artwork to do the heavy emotional lifting. The choice to make the protagonists anthropomorphized elephants is an inspired one, given the animals’ reputed memories, and makes Big Ella’s loss even more poignant. Eldon and Big Ella are highly expressive—their trunks, ears, and facial folds are exquisitely and precisely drawn to show mood—and softened by the beautiful watercolor shading. The sad subject matter is balanced by the loving details and the humor in Eldon’s remembered moments. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Simple without being oversimplified and reassuring, countering fears with love. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780823450480
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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