Not the most compellingly slumberous collection out there but adequate for the purpose.
Original poems to read at twilight, at bedtime, and after.
Taylor sticks largely to traditional nighty-night topics and tropes, from sleeping animals, the moon, and the sound of rain to the titular train and (with a proper nod to Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Land of Counterpane”) the transformation of rumpled bedcovers into an undiscovered country. Given the plethora of sleep-themed poetry titles out there, this one may not stand out on a crowded shelf, and the soporific tonality does suffer some interruptions—notably in a catalog of “Sleep Stealers” (“And, just when your eyes / fill with flickers of sleep, / they’ll set off a car alarm / out in the street”) and verses about a “Cave Bear’s Snore” (“A volcano’s pretty scary. / So’s a lion’s roar”)—but overall Taylor makes effective use of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition to weigh down young eyelids: “Moonrise. Bat flies. Night skies. Sleepy sighs. / Teddy eyes. Beddy-byes. Lullabies. Shut your eyes.” Allepuz follows suit with twilit and moonlit scenes of drowsing wild creatures mixed with softly textured tumbles of family groups (including one with an adult using a wheelchair and holding a child on their lap) and variously hued children cavorting, getting ready for bed, or floating into dreamland beneath starry skies. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not the most compellingly slumberous collection out there but adequate for the purpose. (Picture-book poetry. 4-6)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2834-2
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Wormell (Blue Rabbit and the Runaway Wheel, see above) seamlessly blends landscape and playscape in this tale of a wonderfully catastrophic train wreck. As if it’s not bad enough that blubbery Mrs. Walrus, Mr. Bear, and Mrs. Elephant forcibly wedge themselves into the train’s tiny cars for a shopping trip into town, on their return they’re carrying 600 sardines, 15 loaves of bread, pots of honey, and a mountain of fresh fruit. “ ‘It’s just a matter of balance,’ ” Mrs. Elephant cheerfully assures the worried conductor. Indeed it is—until a bee crawls up Mrs. Elephant’s trunk, prompting a monumental sneeze. Groceries are scattered everywhere. What to do? Invite everyone to a picnic! Rather than his usual polychrome woodcuts, Wormell creates soft-edged, colored-pencil drawings here for a “younger,” softer look, depicting a simply carved wooden train sturdily pulling three hilariously overloaded cars. Afterward, willing trunks and flippers reset the tumbled cars onto their tracks, and off the train chugs, leaving the bloated picnickers strewn about like beached whales. Ending on a peaceful, satiated note, this explosive episode makes a first-rate entry in the annals of picture-book sneezes. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83986-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A glory ride for young car, truck, train, bus and trolley devotees.
In a visual feast for fans of wheeled vehicles large and small, Biggs presents a series of high-density street scenes done in an amiably rumpled cartoon style.
Driving in from the ’burbs to a generic metropolis, a lad and his dad gloss each big, double-page spread—“ ‘Do trucks work the same way as cars?’ / ‘Many of them do. Trucks also have jobs, like cars’ ”—as they glide through heavy traffic, past a construction site and under an elevated highway. They wait for fleets of bikes and motorcycles to pass and park at last near a train station to pick up Mom. Along with sparely labeled close-up or cutaway views of a car, a bicycle, a big truck, a subway station, an RV and other specimens, the author sets up the family reunion at the end with a giant double-gatefold aerial view of an entire neighborhood packed with traffic, pedestrians, local businesses and signs, each one individually distinct. Jokey side conversations (one firefighter tells another, "There's no fire. It's just a cat"; his companion asks, "Should we get some milk?") play off more serious and informative dialogue. A diagram of a car is accompanied by a disquisition on the relationship between a car battery and the motor, as well as the fact that "[a]n electric car uses batteries and electric motor. No gas!"
A glory ride for young car, truck, train, bus and trolley devotees. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-195809-0
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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