With its companion, brief but engaging exposures to great music in appropriate European settings.
Thanks to sound chips, strains of classical melodies follow two music lovers around Paris.
Poppy the dog invites his rabbit friend Frannie to play and listen to music in his apartment, then on Parisian streets, in parks, a subway station, and church, and finally at the opera. Readers become part of the audience by pressing designated spots in each cartoon illustration to key several fully orchestral bars from one of 11 Mozart works (identified at the end). They can also, just for fun, cut the music off with such sound effects as a subway train pulling in or an irritated neighbor in the apartment above pounding the floor. Poppy visits Venice just in time for Carnival, and a similar musical sampling from that city’s greatest composer is in the co-published Poppy and Vivaldi. Both outings feature an anthropomorphic all-animal cast, recognizable landmarks, and brief remarks on the lives of the featured composers with period pictures. Musical selections are keyed with a fairly standard-looking megaphone symbol, but, amusingly, an emphatic scribble denotes the other sound effects. The sound chips embedded in the thick back covers come with on/off switches and replaceable batteries, and the sound quality is quite good for the format.
With its companion, brief but engaging exposures to great music in appropriate European settings. (Novelty picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63322-600-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Amusing but a little off tempo.
It’s important to hit all the right notes.
A tan-skinned musical composer with puffy black hair is busy at work on his next musical masterpiece when Half Note, a music symbol denoting two beats, feels unappreciated. Half Note is jealous of the more commonly used Quarter Note (one beat) and Eighth Note. Although the other musical symbols attempt to calm and comfort Half Note, she decides to run away. The next day, Composer needs Half Note and panics when he realizes that she’s gone. The other notes and musical symbols try to find her, but it’s only when they try to play her favorite song, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” without her—with terrible results—that she comes running back. The story’s humor—which is largely based on “dad joke” puns—is completely dependent on readers’ musical knowledge. The artwork, a mix of acrylic and colored pencil, attempts to add some allegrezza to the piece, and while it’s not unsuccessful, it’s facing an uphill battle. Music teachers and musically minded caregivers may find some value in this story, but it will likely be too specialized for general readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Amusing but a little off tempo. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64567-631-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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