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I SEE YOU, SAD BEAR

Name: I SEE YOU, SAD BEAR
Author: Vern Kousky
ISBN: 9781250842022

by Vern Kousky ; illustrated by Vern Kousky ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2023

Gracefully understated and understanding, for Sad Bears and their friends, too.

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A kind friend helps by recognizing a friend’s sadness.

Bear is a solitary, unhappy, small figure against a backdrop of lively playgrounds, streets, and skylines that suggest a New York setting. An antlered friend notices and asks gently, “Sad Bear, why are you so sad?” Maybe it’s because of a dropped ice cream cone, a lost balloon, cold, wet weather, or a forgotten birthday. Maybe something was broken accidentally or a special tree was chopped down. Or “maybe it’s because the world is such a big place, and you are only a little bear. Or maybe there is no reason at all. You are just simply sad.” There might be solutions; in several sunny pages the deer shares some ice cream, helps track down the lost balloon, and gathers friends for a party. The pair plant some seeds and find indoor adventure on a rainy day. “But, Sad Bear, if after all, you still feel a little blue,” says the deer reassuringly, “it’s okay. I understand. Sometimes I get sad too.” The message that it’s OK to grapple with difficult feelings—and that they’re something we all deal with sometimes—is conveyed with admirable simplicity. The details of the city with animal denizens and amusing alternate versions of Times Square and the Statue of Liberty are funny and sweet. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Gracefully understated and understanding, for Sad Bears and their friends, too. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: July 25, 2023

ISBN: 9781250842022

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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HAROLD HATES TO HIBERNATE
by Vern Kousky ; illustrated by Vern Kousky

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MILO IS MISSING SOMETHING
by Vern Kousky ; illustrated by Vern Kousky

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HAROLD LOVES HIS WOOLLY HAT
by Vern Kousky ; illustrated by Vern Kousky

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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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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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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)