This earnest effort from the well-known NFL coach is based on Dungy’s childhood experiences in his own tightly knit Christian family. He focuses on the concept that each person has a special talent—an “it”—that can be discovered if you “[t]rust God and dream big!” Little brother Linden feels left out because his brother, Tony, and sisters have special talents and interests that seem to lead straight to their future careers. After having a cavity filled by an understanding dentist, Linden finds a sudden and intense interest in teeth and the dental profession, which he shares with his class during show-and-tell. A concluding note, in the author’s own voice, connects the story to his own life and Christian faith and confirms Linden’s success as a dentist. The large format highlights Bates’s attractive full-color illustrations, which depict the close-knit, loving African-American family with warmth. The stilted text, however, indicates that Dungy’s it lies in coaching, not in writing, all good intentions aside. (Picture book/religion. 5-8)
Pub Date: July 8, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5461-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Simon Inspirations/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84880-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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