A quirky story of a plucky mother-daughter pair that reads like a fable missing its moral.
Paulette is a “precious tornado” whose mother loves her—even when she makes a mess at the market.
Paulette’s mother’s mantra? “Everything is fine!” She mitigates every disaster by paying for items that Paulette’s damaged and doling out excuses. When Paulette gets too close to an herbalist’s magic potion—ignoring the “No Touching” sign—nothing seems amiss at first, but the next morning Paulette is missing. Apparently, Paulette’s mother was so exhausted the night before that she slurped Paulette into her belly along with her spaghetti. As Paulette’s mother searches frantically for her daughter, she encounters many other naughty children, all deemed “perfect” by their loving parents. Suddenly ravenous, she devours a long twirling rope of spaghetti given to her by the herbalist; Paulette uses the strand of spaghetti to climb up and out. The setup may lead some to expect a cautionary tale with a clear takeaway; such readers will be disappointed by the meandering narrative. Reunited, the pair breeze into town, “a whirlwind of noodles and mayhem,” evidently having learned no lessons from their ordeal (though they warn a curious tot to stay away from the herbalist’s wagon). Eye-catching, ethereal illustrations in pastel tones with saturated pops of neon are spattered with marbling ink, making for chaotic scenes that are hard to follow. Paulette and her mother present white with golden curls; other characters are diverse.
A quirky story of a plucky mother-daughter pair that reads like a fable missing its moral. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780063295827
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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