Little listeners may need to be persuaded, but adults can be pleased with the solution.
The perfect birthday present is not easy for this duck to find, but it is certainly a good one.
A cheerful group of animal friends adorned with party hats and led by an exuberant duck are all ready to celebrate a birthday. The cake is sliced, the balloons are in place, and the presents are piled up. Only duck does not have one in hand. As told by the duck, it was to be the very best, “the greatest present ever.” This is, unfortunately, not an easy assignment. Knitting socks is too difficult, carrying a really big ice cream cone is too awkward, composing music too challenging, and performing magical tricks too daunting—the whole package disappeared. Children can’t drive race cars, the dinosaurs are gone, and the Martians needed the rocket ship to get back home. Though endlessly inventive, this duck keeps coming up empty. Then the duck finally finds inspiration with a gift that should bring a smile to book lovers everywhere. Hopefully, the message will resonate with toy-, doll-, and gadget-focused gift givers and receivers. The colorfully busy and page-filling illustrations were created in Photoshop with “cake icing and gorilla vanilla ice cream.”
Little listeners may need to be persuaded, but adults can be pleased with the solution. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0009-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.
Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.
There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781400247417
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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