A gentle story about bedtime that sweetly captures the importance of nature, family, and childhood in Japanese culture
In this French import, eye-catching, detailed artwork illuminates a sweet story about a girl, her grandfather, and an elusive bedtime.
Miyuki, like most young children, is too busy to bother with bedtime. She has “so much to do.” Her patient grandfather tells her again and again, “Miyuki, it’s time for bed.” Instead, Miyuki wants to make a canopy for the Dragonfly Queen, water her carrots and turnips, “gather the whole Snail family together,” and “dance the last dance of the day.” Natural elements such as the sun, flowers, a nightingale, and more appear in watercolor-and–colored-pencil illustrations full of fine, luminous details that immerse readers in their world. Nearly every spread features an icon of Japanese culture, including the often familiar (a doll in a traditional kimono, an origami crane, a bento box) as well as those that are perhaps less so: a maneki-neko figurine, a koinobori (or carp kite), and a pair of flip-flop–like zori. Fittingly, these icons are not explained even though this is not an #ownvoices book; rather the icons fit together like a puzzle to form a cultural backdrop for Miyuki’s universal, accessible problem—how to avoid bedtime at all costs. Clever readers will appreciate the story within a story and imagine what they might do in Miyuki’s shoes.
A gentle story about bedtime that sweetly captures the importance of nature, family, and childhood in Japanese culture . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61689-705-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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