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OH NO, GOTTA GO!

Name: OH NO, GOTTA GO!
Author: Susan Middleton Elya
ISBN: 0-399-23493-4

by Susan Middleton Elya & illustrated by G. Brian Karas ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2003

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In this rollicking gallop of a tale, the rhyming couplets provide the forward impetus and the ordinary, but tense situation supplies the humor. While on a Sunday drive with her parents, a little girl announces that she has “gotta go.” Unfortunately all of the nearby shops are closed, but they manage to get directions to a restaurant from a construction worker. Once there, of course, they find a long line of girls and women waiting for the bathroom. Although writing primarily in English, Elya employs several dozen Spanish words and phrases, sometimes even in rhyme with English words. Her contexts explain all of the Spanish usages, but even so she includes a glossary. Perfect for bilingual classes stretching their English wings, this is also an accurate reflection of the way in which bilingual speakers move back and forth between languages, as well as a charming way to introduce Spanish to English speakers. Karas’s characteristically funny illustrations are bright and blocky, both detailed and childishly simple. The text highlights all Spanish words in bold. Appropriate for all children’s collections: a real winner. (Picture book/poetry. 3-8)

Pub Date: June 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-399-23493-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2003

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE THREE BILLY GOATS BUENOS
by Susan Middleton Elya ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez

- BOOK REVIEW
MAYA PAPAYA AND HER AMIGOS PLAY DRESS-UP
by Susan Middleton Elya ; illustrated by Maria Mola

- BOOK REVIEW
OUR CELEBRACIÓN!
by Susan Middleton Elya ; illustrated by Ana Aranda

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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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)