An intimate, low-key variation on a popular theme.
A sweet celebration of a day filled with physical contact, from “rise and shine cuddles” to “sleep tight and good night.”
To Austin’s tally of cuddle possibilities (“We give thank you very much cuddles, I’m so glad you’re my friend cuddles, / and no cuddles at all please. Not right now”), Owen pairs bright, neatly pieced together scenes of a dark-skinned, black-haired child, a gray tabby, and a Saint Bernard sharing moments and feelings. It’s not entirely sunnily saccharine, as the “no cuddles” signals a need to be alone after an (unspecified) offense, and in the next picture the tearful child gets “oops! you had a fall cuddles.” Still, the child’s smile seems both genuine and mostly constant. Apparently intended to act as parental stand-ins, the animal companions are placed (with one exception) next to her in tight compositions, offering attention, sympathetic leans, and the occasional paw while anthropomorphically echoing her body language, facial expressions, even sometimes her actions. Consequently, the whole outing has an abstract flavor that the absence of other humans and the author’s use of a plural narrative voice only underscores. Still, by highlighting the diverse pleasures and rewards of shared contact, while also demonstrating that there are less-invasive alternatives to physical embraces for expressing love and affection, this takes a different angle to the general run of aggressive “let’s have a hug” titles.
An intimate, low-key variation on a popular theme. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-49-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Whether spoken by a dinosaur or a human, this parental message clearly radiates “I’ve loved you from the start.”
The cover’s glowing golden stars are but a small hint of the parent-child love inside.
In this companion book to the creators’ I Love You, My Little Unicorn (2022), a world full of digitally created dinosaurs illustrated in eye-catching colors dominates the pages. From the start, it’s clear that dinosaur parents have the same hopes and dreams for their offspring that human parents do. Readers don’t have to be dinosaur fans to smile when the parent-and-child dinosaur pairs playfully interact and share loving glances. Take special note of the ankylosauruses, whose tails arc to form a heart beneath a sky filled with heart-shaped clouds. The text in verse shares words of unconditional parental love and support and wisdom (“please remember all these things / that I want you to know”), appropriate for humans and dinos alike. “Roar with all your might!” “Spread your wings and fly.” “Use your voice, and ask for help.” There’s even a caveat that some “days will be dark / and other shades of gray.” But “there’s always brightness up ahead.” While the loving sentiments in the storytelling are clear, words are sometimes inverted to make the rhyme work, and the verse doesn’t always follow a consistent meter, but prereading will let the story shine during quiet snuggle times.
Whether spoken by a dinosaur or a human, this parental message clearly radiates “I’ve loved you from the start.” (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728268361
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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