Kindness is cool, but it’s unclear whether this purposive effort will really encourage young listeners to commit good deeds. Like all children, the kindergartners in Mrs. Ruler’s class occasionally misbehave. When five of them transgress on a single day, she holds them back from recess and asks them to consider changing their behavior. With one exception, they comply and find that being kind is so rewarding that soon the whole class pitches in. The awkwardly placed text is occasionally difficult to read, particularly when placed against darker colors, and the small font does little to improve matters. Mrs. Ruler regularly speaks in rhyme, which can get tedious while her students’ words consist mainly of a listing of their (decidedly random) acts of kindness. Skewed perspectives, bug-eyed, round-headed children and large swathes of bright, flat color give the illustrations energy and contemporary charm. The appealing pictures, expansive double-page spreads and positive message will likely ensure a wide audience—but a tad more creativity would have been welcome. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: June 26, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-689-87344-7
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
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