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DAY AT THE BEACH

A sunny ending for a mild sibling-rivalry story.

Gideon wants to build a sand castle all by himself—until he doesn’t.

Gideon plans to build a spectacular sand castle and doesn’t want his little sister, Audrey, to help. Hurt, she goes off with their parents and Gideon gets to work, but his attempts are thwarted when volleyball players, a kite, and the incoming tide, among other things, wreck his solo works in progress. Finally, he finds a secluded part of the beach and builds the castle of his dreams. A multiracial crowd of beachgoers gathers to praise his creation, and Gideon is proud until he looks and sees Audrey with their parents. The castle they’ve built doesn’t “have straight towers, level walls, or smooth sides,” as Gideon’s does, “but it did look like fun.” Swallowing his pride, Gideon joins them to work on their castle, and generous little Audrey welcomes him despite his earlier rejection. The illustrations have a style that reveals Booth’s animation roots, but shifts in perspective and varying degrees of background detail make use of the picture-book form. Gideon and Audrey are both children of color, with brown skin and brown hair. Their mother appears white with light skin, blue eyes, and straight, dark-blond hair, while their father has brown skin and dark hair like Gideon’s.

A sunny ending for a mild sibling-rivalry story. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: May 22, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5344-1105-0

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

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

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024

ISBN: 9780593702901

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024

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