Appealing visuals can’t make up for a less than egg-citing storyline.
Ready for adventure? Egg-cellent!
Returning from a shopping trip, a tan-skinned family of four brings home Humphrey Dumpty, an egg whose “greatest dream is to become an egg-splorer, just like my grandfather,” the legendary Humpty Dumpty. But Humphrey is fragile and well aware of that fact, despite attempts to toughen up by sword fighting with a spoon and testing their mettle by spending time in the freezer. Sadly, neither exercise proves fruitful. When Humphrey tries to find a quiet space to think of a new plan, their wanderings lead them to a bath—one that most readers will identify as a pot of water on the stove. Soaking for a bit, Humphrey emerges triumphant—as a hard-boiled egg! With this new, slightly stronger form (as the other eggs note, “You are still easy to crack. So please be careful”), Humphrey can finally set out to explore…just as the book ends. Readers may be frustrated with the meandering plot that comes to a stop just as the real action seems ready to begin. The loose, colorful illustrations, reminiscent of Chris Raschka’s art, try to lift the plot but can only do so much. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Appealing visuals can’t make up for a less than egg-citing storyline. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781953458575
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Yeehoo Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As insubstantial as hot air.
A diverse cast of children first makes a fleet of hot air balloons and then takes to the sky in them.
Lifestyle maven Gaines uses this activity as a platform to celebrate diversity in learning and working styles. Some people like to work together; others prefer a solo process. Some take pains to plan extensively; others know exactly what they want and jump right in. Some apply science; others demonstrate artistic prowess. But “see how beautiful it can be when / our differences share the same sky?” Double-page spreads leading up to this moment of liftoff are laid out such that rhyming abcb quatrains typically contain one or two opposing concepts: “Some of us are teachers / and share what we know. / But all of us are learners. / Together is how we grow!” In the accompanying illustration, a bespectacled, Asian-presenting child at a blackboard lectures the other children on “balloon safety.” Gaines’ text has the ring of sincerity, but the sentiment is hardly an original one, and her verse frequently sacrifices scansion for rhyme. Sometimes it abandons both: “We may not look / or work or think the same, / but we all have an / important part to play.” Swaney’s delicate, pastel-hued illustrations do little to expand on the text, but they are pretty. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.2-by-18.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 70.7% of actual size.)
As insubstantial as hot air. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4003-1423-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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