A cheery, creative look at celebrating being different from the crowd.
In a copy-cat world where all dogs look the same, one dachshund finds her own identity and learns to love being different.
A bouncy, rhyming text presents a city with rows and rows of identical dachshunds driving on busy roads or engaging in activities such as swimming, sailing, and camping. Each group of dogs is dressed identically, with the members of each set lined up in robotic, expressionless fashion. One female dog, however, dances to a different drummer. She wears a colorful cap and a rainbow-hued scarf, and she listens to her own music playing on headphones. She feels she doesn’t fit in anywhere, so she leaves home to find a new life. She lands in Doggywood, where she does fit in, as many other dogs there look just like her. She meets another outlier, dressed in a black cap and Nordic sweater, who’s “whistling a different tune.” That dog causes her to be proud of her outsider status, and the unnamed heroine returns to her original town, where she has been missed. Her return sparks an outbreak of individuality, with all the dachshunds making a group decision to dress in wildly different attire. While the sudden transformation from boring conformity to intriguing originality is a bit abrupt, the story successfully introduces the idea that just one individual may effect a change in a larger group. Graphically striking, patterned illustrations use vibrant colors and a wide variety of perspectives and page formats to keep visual interest high.
A cheery, creative look at celebrating being different from the crowd. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-236726-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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