A delightful, sensory-rich appreciation of a childhood pleasure.
An onomatopoeic account of the joys of a sudden summer rain.
The weather is “hot, hot,” and though the book’s East Asian–presenting protagonist is initially perturbed by the downpour, the little one soon comes to appreciate it. The child notices new odors—the smell of the sky and of the ground—and sounds as droplets splatter against a yellow umbrella: “The rain is singing!” The youngster abandons the umbrella, gleefully accepting the rain’s invitation (“Let’s play!”), leaping and splashing barefoot in puddles. Translated from Japanese, the text is filled with a grand variety of made-up sounds, which would be great fun to read aloud, with a little practice: “KER-BABABA. ZUBABABABA. PLIP-PLOONK. KER-PLUNK. PLOOPOOPOOPOOPOOP.” Depicting an idyllic suburban setting and making use of dramatic angles, Hata’s illustrations would show well to a group. His portrayal of rain reveals close attention to detail; in some scenes, long gray lines fall from the sky, while in others, we’re treated to fat, shimmering droplets. The child’s enjoyment is clear through words, action, and body language, even as the little one stands huddled against the escalating downpour. “Sopping wet feels good.” Eventually the weather clears up, but it’s clear that the rain is welcome anytime: The book ends on a whimsical note, with the child seated in a bathtub, holding the yellow umbrella up against a shower of cascading water.
A delightful, sensory-rich appreciation of a childhood pleasure. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781636551142
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Red Comet Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Like its subject: full of bustling life yet peaceful.
Life buzzes in a community garden.
Surrounded by apartment buildings, this city garden gets plenty of human attention, but the book’s stars are the plants and insects. The opening spread shows a black child in a striped shirt sitting in a top-story window; the nearby trees and garden below reveal the beginnings of greenery that signal springtime. From that high-up view, the garden looks quiet—but it’s not. “Sleepy slugs / and garden snails / leave behind their silver trails. / Frantic teams of busy ants / scramble up the stems of plants”; and “In the earth / a single seed / sits beside a millipede. / Worms and termites / dig and toil / moving through the garden soil.” Sicuro zooms in too, showing a robin taller than a half-page; later, close-ups foreground flowers, leaves, and bugs while people (children and adults, a multiracial group) are crucial but secondary, sometimes visible only as feet. Watercolor illustrations with ink and charcoal highlights create a soft, warm, horticulturally damp environment. Scale and perspective are more stylized than literal. McCanna’s superb scansion never misses, incorporating lists of insects and plants (“Lacewings, gnats, / mosquitos, spiders, / dragonflies, and water striders / live among the cattail reeds, / lily pads, and waterweeds”) with description (“Sunlight warms the morning air. / Dewdrops shimmer / here and there”). Readers see more than gardeners do, such as rabbits stealing carrots and lettuce from garden boxes.
Like its subject: full of bustling life yet peaceful. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1797-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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