An utterly charming Asian twist to a familiar tune.
A young Chinese family enjoys a visit to their grandparents’ house.
Modeled after “The Wheels on the Bus,” the narrative opens with, “When my family gets together we laugh and sing, / laugh and sing, laugh and sing.” The grandparents along with their small white dog give a warm welcome to their extended family. The four grandchildren are two grade schoolers, a tutu-wearing toddler, and a baby. The dinner table is stacked with bamboo steamers and numerous dishes, with a lazy susan in the center. As the story progresses, each family member is addressed in Chinese and associated with a traditional dish. “Nai Nai drinks her tea with a hoo, hoo, hoo” (the kids’ grandmother is evidently blowing on the hot liquid); “Ye Ye eats noodles going slurp, slurp, slurp” (the grandfather slurps a comically long noodle); and “Ba Ba takes a pancake to roll up the duck” (the dad happily munches Peking duck). The repetitive stanzas and delectable onomatopoeia establish a rhythmic pace that irresistibly begs for participation. Tu’s illustrations elevate the joyful tone with brightly colored cartoons filled with textures and lively details. Shang follows up with a detailed glossary explaining food, family titles, and dining etiquette. The explanations are thorough, accompanied by characters in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese and Romanized spellings. This deceptively simple story artfully brings an authentic expression of family love. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 90.3% of actual size.)
An utterly charming Asian twist to a familiar tune. (author's note, illustrator's note) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-62119-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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