What, me worry? This gentle tale should help comfort young worry warthogs.
When you’re worried about your worries, you’ve got real problems.
Ralph Warthog worries. About everything. Day and night. His constant mantra is, “What if…?” One day, he declares he’s as brave as Mummy says he is when she asks him to gather berries. Of course, he doesn’t really believe it, and it’s not long before he’s besieged by a host of what if’s. Encountering a hedgehog, Ralph tearfully spills the beans. The hedgehog admits that it also knows a thing or two about worries and shares a helpful method for dealing with them. Pointing to assorted animals clustered nearby, the hedgehog enumerates some of their fears and anxieties. This puts things in perspective for Ralph, and he feels better, especially when the hedgehog advises it’s a good idea to share worries with friends. Afterward, Ralph asks the assembled animals’ aid in gathering berries; they agree and, additionally, guide him home. The story concludes with Ralph’s acknowledgment that it’s best to ask for help in worrisome times—or at least to talk about one’s worries at a berry feast, at which all his newfound animal pals are shown assembled. This sweet piece of bibliotherapy delivers uncomplicated, common-sense advice to young readers/listeners who may occasionally find themselves beset by troubling concerns. Cute, simple cartoons depict Ralph and company in a sympathetic, gently humorous, child-appealing light.
What, me worry? This gentle tale should help comfort young worry warthogs. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-76036-066-5
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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