Ecce yet another picture book that shines a spotlight on the older kid who decides that it's OK for babies to be stars.
Step right up, folks, and witness…a besotted dad touting the world’s most extraordinary phenomenon—a baby.
While awestruck emcee Dad extols the baby’s amazing, never-before-witnessed talents before a live audience—accomplishments include smiling, eating a banana, and babbling—older brother grumbles “Big deal” from the cheap seats. Not to be outshone by a mere infant, he shows off what he can do: he eats two bananas simultaneously and trumps the baby talk with a song. The spectators are underwhelmed. Then the baby utters something incomprehensible, and even Dad and the audience take a breather from oohing and aahing. What can this new mouthful of gibberish mean? “Duh. So obvious,” says big brother—and translates to the wonderment of all. After that, guess who takes center stage and realizes the little tyke isn’t such a scene-stealing, attention-grabbing bore after all—plus has big plans for a new performance featuring “BROTHERS”? The story is mildly amusing with its obvious spoof of proud parents’ gushiness over everything a new baby does. Adults will get the stage shtick; little kids, not so much. This is a nice addition to the crowded field of titles about older kids cottoning to their new siblings, but except for the theater angle, it doesn’t really offer much that’s fresh. The flat, digital illustrations are lively and expressive; the characters’ large mouths will evoke smiles.
Ecce yet another picture book that shines a spotlight on the older kid who decides that it's OK for babies to be stars. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61963-452-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
