“I like to share…. / It makes me happy deep inside.” To amuse and instruct, one could do a lot worse than Wright and...
Big Bear, after a few false starts, remembers to share the fare.
Hillenbrand’s Big Bear has a burly belly, which surely came from somewhere. As Big Bear is in the process of chowing down a galvanized trash can full of deep indigo berries, readers will quickly figure out that puzzle. It so happens that other creatures of the forest share Big Bear’s interest in food, though he is too oblivious to share his stock, his eyes closed in berry joy. An old oak—drawn by Hillenbrand as an amiably imperial presence with a shock of limbs like Einstein’s hair—feels that Big Bear needs to jump-start his social graces. “Branches shook on the old oak tree. / A deep, low voice said, ‘Listen to me.... / ‘Share, Big Bear, share!’ ” Maybe it is because Tree’s voice is both deep and low, but Big Bear misunderstands repeatedly (as the refrain goes, “He didn’t pay attention like a good bear should”). He thinks Tree said “hair.” So he slicks his fur back and goes on munching. Tree repeats, Big Bear mishears. Lair, chair, scare (“Big Bear knew just what to do. / He jumped in the air and yelled out, ‘BOO!’ ”). Finally, Tree breaks through the earwax. “How could I forget to share? / Come, everyone, / there are berries to spare!” It is refreshing—like those berries on a hot summer day—that Big Bear has just been in a swoon of delight and not a piggy-wiggy who needed a mindful slap on the wrist, though he does blush a little.
“I like to share…. / It makes me happy deep inside.” To amuse and instruct, one could do a lot worse than Wright and Hillenbrand’s bear and old oak. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-50395-100-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.
A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.
A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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