A calm, informing preflight primer and an engaging book to pack to ensure a smooth trip.
An intro to airline travel, from boarding to landing.
Step onboard and join a young family that is relocating as they travel in a plane flown by a brown-skinned pilot “living her dream.” Some passengers are just beginning their journeys; others are returning home. Each spread begins with the phrase “On this airplane,” followed by a description of passengers or activities. Caregivers and educators reading this tale aloud should allow extra time for children to match details in the illustrations to the information in the text and perhaps discuss personal travel plans. Readers will enjoy finding the sleeper and daydreamer, the busy laptop user and the soldier, a young solo traveler, and a soon-to-be mother (“two travel[ing] as one”). The images don’t show anyone wearing seat belts, so adults may want to remind future travelers to do so. Later spreads describe the sounds of takeoff; passengers help each other cope with turbulence, offering a familiar hand to hold (a previously self-centered, seat-reclining traveler proves thoughtful, giving another passenger a piece of gum). Passengers land, deboard, and move through the terminal to meet friends and retrieve luggage; the story closes with the family reaching their new home. Detailed illustrations created with gouache, cut paper, and digital media depict a group of passengers diverse in terms of age and race; the family includes a brown-skinned parent, a lighter-skinned parent, a brown-skinned child, and a tan-skinned baby. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A calm, informing preflight primer and an engaging book to pack to ensure a smooth trip. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6860-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
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
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
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