An exhilarating celebration of motion.
In her debut picture book, author/illustrator Roy challenges and inspires young readers to move their bodies in fun, energetic ways.
“CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR TOES?” Roy asks. “CAN YOU HOP LIKE A BUNNY?” So begins a long list of “can you” activity questions, each pose demonstrated with lively images. Sometimes the challenges have a playful bent: “HOW LONG CAN YOU BALANCE ON ONE FOOT? / TRY THE OTHER FOOT! THAT ONE LOOKS BETTER.” Sometimes the text is visually contrasted for effect: “CAN YOU STOMP YOUR FEET? FASTER!” uses a white writing and a blue background, while “MAKE THE GROUND SHAKE!” uses black writing and a yellow background. The book concludes with a calming-down sequence, which parents will appreciate. Roy’s digital illustrations are multicolored with a grainy pixilation that evokes Warhol. This pop-art feel is particularly evident in the children’s skin and hair tones—neon green, pink, blue, orange, etc. The effect is of a multicultural (though unfortunately not all abilities) mélange, and that same glorious hodgepodge is evident in action lines, backgrounds, and especially clothing. Energy and movement jump from each page. Particularly artful examples include kinesis lines that look respectively like fan blades and the contours of a tornado for “CAN YOU SPIN AROUND LIKE A CEILING FAN?”
An exhilarating celebration of motion.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781958803943
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Blue Star Press
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Colorful, upbeat, and just for Swifties.
What is being a Swiftie all about? Finding joy in the things you love!
For Taylor Swift and her fans, love comes from baking tasty desserts, snuggling with pets, enjoying fireworks with friends, and attending concerts. Vibrant illustrations that evoke bright pop music are scattered with references to Taylor’s life, such as a red sports jersey (a nod to her high-profile relationship with a certain Kansas City Chiefs tight end) or a stack of friendship bracelets (which devotees know are commonly made by hand and traded at Swift’s concerts). Without this prior knowledge of Swift lore, this peppy picture book may feel like a somewhat superficial, though positive, list of ways to find happiness; some readers may wish the author had included messages about acceptance and self-love, commonly found in Swift’s lyrics. Still, the intended audience will welcome it as a joyful love letter to her fans. Pops of color splash across scenes of Taylor and a racially diverse set of friends doing their favorite things atop a stark white background. The star’s recognizable fashion style and facial features are spot-on, while most other featured characters feel more generic.
Colorful, upbeat, and just for Swifties. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781665973519
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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