Bumpy text saved by touching illustrations.
A child imagines painting love that rains down like hearts touching the world.
With a paintbrush aimed at the sky, a child streams pink, purple, and yellow beams from a wand. Bright red hearts flutter and fall, touching everything the child sees: hills, trees, zoo animals, a group of musicians in the park, birds in a nest, and of course the child and caregiver. The book has a meaningful message about the reach and spread of acts of love, with the child continuing to find and share love. The final two lines of each group of four rhyme, but this pattern makes for a disappointingly awkward read-aloud. Still, the illustrations, featuring people of varying skin tones, hair styles, ages, and abilities, are a delight. The child is drawn with light brown skin and dark brown hair, while the caregiver has brown skin and black hair. The tricolored ribbon of love is a consistent presence throughout the book, and the hearts appear like butterfly wings. This representation of love really brings the concept of “painting love” to life in a way that little readers will be able to visualize. The final images of the child cradling the globe and snuggling with the caregiver bring home the idea of just how much love we hold and how far it can reach if we share it.
Bumpy text saved by touching illustrations. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9781250828606
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an...
A little boy exults in his new role as big brother.
Rhyming text describes the arrival of a new baby and all of the big brother’s rewarding new duties. He gets to help with feedings, diaper changes, playtime, bathtime, and naptime. Though the rhyming couplets can sometimes feel a bit forced and awkward, the sentiment is sweet, as the focus here never veers from the excitement and love a little boy feels for his tiny new sibling. The charming, uncluttered illustrations convincingly depict the growing bond between this fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, smiling pair of boys. In the final pages, the parents, heretofore kept mostly out of view, are pictured holding the children. The accompanying text reads: “Mommy, Daddy, baby, me. / We love each other—a family!” In companion volume I Am a Big Sister, the little boy is replaced with a little girl with bows in her hair. Some of the colors and patterns in the illustrations are slightly altered, but it is essentially the same title.
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an older sibling can do to help. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-68886-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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