"When Papa was away at sea/ And Mama in the arbor/ Ida played her wonder horn/ to rock the baby still/ but never watched." Sendak's latest picture book recalls Where the Wild Things Are in the way it plunges us into the stream of a child's life, without a preliminary word. As in The Wild Things and In the Night Kitchen, the words throughout are few, reverberant, and rhythmic in a fluent, self-contained way that never deigns, here, to quite fulfill our ears' expectations. Here the poetry is more subtly charged, suggestive, and almost hypnotic—an effect that is reinforced by these more complex pictures, which abandon cartoons to communicate and interact with the story from within the traditions of painting. What happens when Ida is not watching is that two faceless, hooded figures—familiar from previous Sendak work, as are other images here—appear at the window and "pull the baby out." The monstrous, stating changeling they leave in her place turns to ice in Ida's arms, whereupon she dons her mother's yellow raincoat and flies off—literally, though it looks more like floating, against agitated clouds, lost and awkward in the elaborate golden folds of some old drapery master's madonna cloak. (One wonders, at times, how these art-historical references relate to the emotional content of the story.) In any case, Ida is off to retrieve her sister from the goblins, who would marry the baby to one of their nasty company. But then the sinister goblins prove to be only babies, and Ida charms them and makes them "dancing sick" with a captivating tune. (The dancing goblin babies' expressions, from innocent delight to one sly smirk, are a study in themselves.) Returning safe through tranquil soft-toned countryside, Ida seems to be heading toward a Rackhamesque tree about to pounce—but not so. Butterflies flit softly around the tree, and off to the left behind the path Ida has passed, Mozart sits serenely in a little shelter, unremarked. Scarcely a spread is without a vista of the sea, with a ship in the distance and a storm that is most violent at the kidnapping and gives way to soft blue skies at the end. There's much to see, much to feel, much to follow, and all of it beautifully integrated. Whether it has the direct, elemental strength of Sendak's previous picture books is less certain.
Pub Date: April 22, 1981
ISBN: 0060255234
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1981
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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