Gentle and gorgeous.
An overtired lion can’t fall asleep.
Arlo’s lids droop. His eyes sag. He flops over a tree branch. But sleep eludes him no matter where he lies down. “The grass was too prickly, and the earth was too hard.…The sun was too hot, but the night was too cold.” Arlo’s downright exhausted—and then an owl sings him a quieting meditation: “Think about the places where you’d like to be, / the things that you’d do there and what you might see. / Relax your whole body, slow your breathing right down, / imagine you’re sinking into the soft ground.” (The melody is left to readers.) The song works! In the excitement and vigor that follows hours of sleep, Arlo accidentally wakes others, but it’s OK—they, too, can use the song. Rayner’s tale is never frenetic, not even early on: Arlo’s fatigue is of heavy, tousled woe, not crankiness. His mane—teeming with pencil lines, ink lines, watercolors, light blue and lavender bits, what looks like the residue from popped bubbles, and black and brown curvy zigzags—never looks busy; though nonrepresentational, it looks utterly organic (and spellbinding). Owl’s feathers are speckled, splotched, and splattered, using one palette in multiple patterns. Landscapes are alluringly tranquil, and Arlo’s own yellows and browns harmonize with dusk’s burnt oranges. Scale varies dramatically, always with purpose. The whiskers and eyelids of the sleeping lions of Arlo’s pride show, via the most delicate lines, that sleep is bliss. Pair with Deborah Freedman’s Shy (2016).
Gentle and gorgeous. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-222-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
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
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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