A strong and creative young narrator makes this clever family tale resonate.
A boy searches for a solution that will enable his grandfather and a bee to enjoy mornings without bothering each other in this rhyming picture book.
Every morning, the unnamed narrator wakes so he can watch his grandfather’s daily encounters with a bee who lives on the porch. First, his grandfather has to put in his dentures and say a prayer. The boy observes: “I don’t think, wink, wink that Grandpa can talk to God without his special teeth.” Soon Grandpa and his dog, Sparks, are off to the porch with a hot mug of tea. But as soon as Grandpa sits down, Bizzy Bzzz appears; soon the two are dancing around the porch while the narrator laughs. After Grandpa nearly falls (rescued by the narrator and Sparks), the boy devises a possible solution. Maybe Bizzy Bzzz isn’t after Grandpa but the honey in his tea. Peagler, whose previous books are for an older audience, offers syncopated rhyming phrases within long blocks of prose; the formatting may cause the young audience (or parents reading aloud) to stumble before finding the shifting rhythm. The narrator and his grandfather are clearly a loving pair. Digital pictures from Blueberry Illustrations deftly show the affectionate relationship between the two, who are both brown-skinned. Subtle references to faith ground this book in a spiritual setting without preaching, and the message of finding a solution that allows kindness to all parties is well delivered.
A strong and creative young narrator makes this clever family tale resonate.Pub Date: May 29, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Script Novel Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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