An endearing adventure with verse that soars.
Dotsikas’ debut children’s picture book offers the lesson that with a little help from one’s friends, anything is possible.
A tiny, yellow bird named Benjamin Birdie, like many youngsters, isn’t willing to accept his mama’s opinion on whether he’s ready to grow up. As soon as she leaves to find food, he decides, contrary to her opinion, that he’s ready to fly. Other birds are flying, after all, so he thinks he can, too. He leaps into the air, manages a few triumphant flaps—and then plummets to the ground. The illustration is brilliant in the way it extends vertically across two pages to create a sense of just how far he falls. The concerned expressions on the other animals’ faces are touching, letting readers know that even in Benjamin Birdie’s moment of greatest despair, he isn’t alone. After quickly realizing that he can’t make it back up to the nest by himself, he begins asking other creatures for help. None can take him the entire way, but each one gets him a bit closer, until he finally gets back to his beloved nest. The verse is easy to read aloud, and the overall rhythm of the text works well, without any stumbling blocks. The typeface design creatively highlights the different meanings and emphases of words, which will help the text come alive even for children who are too young to read it themselves; for example, it uses the word “s-t-r-e-e-e-e-e-e-t-c-h-i-n-g” to describe what the giraffe does with her long neck. Most of the animals believe they can get Benjamin all the way home, and each is sad after realizing that he or she can’t quite get there. The end result of these helping paws, heads, wings, and tails, however, is success, which will teach children that even a partial victory can help accomplish a goal—particularly if everyone works as a team. A final, wonderful lesson comes when Benjamin admits to his mother that he’s not yet ready to fly, showing that honesty can result in hugs and love even when one makes a mistake. The animal glossary at the end of the book, meanwhile, is a wonderful educational tool featuring fantastic, full-color illustrations.
An endearing adventure with verse that soars.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9961450-0-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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