A tender ode to a family’s ever changing (and never-ending) love.
In lyrical rhyme, a parent promises to love their child across the years of their special bond.
An adult with warm brown skin and long brown hair and a red dress floats above a sleeping town, cradling a baby. Meanwhile, an adult with a somewhat deeper-brown complexion and straw fedora shelters a different child from a downpour. A unified narration offers a series of tender, metaphor-driven vignettes spanning the little ones’ lifetimes. The scenes follow a gentle formula, depicting a stage in the kids’ lives and the support the adults vow to provide (“you’ll be a knight and I’ll be a horse. / We’ll race along a rainbow’s course / to castles in the sky”) then seamlessly shifting into a new iteration of their connection (“until it’s time to fly. / Then…”). As the story progresses, each child’s autonomy grows; in turn, each adult lovingly acknowledges the change their relationships will take. Combining lyrical words with vibrant paintings and occasionally rotating spreads, Young and López weave a rich tapestry that honors the process of children’s self-determination over time. Most notable about this warmhearted tale is how it can be applied to any special adult in a child’s life, including caregivers, extended family, and chosen family. Because each parent-child duo is illustrated as a distinct unit, this book is also a beautiful representation of single parents. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 16% of actual size.)
A tender ode to a family’s ever changing (and never-ending) love. (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: March 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-45328-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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