The theory/practice continuum gets a comically endearing shake: The theory is that books can transport; the practice is getting the transport out of your head and giving it a ride. Father Turtle reads a book about penguins to Little Turtle. Little Turtle is smitten, enough so that he is ready to turn in his shell for a tuxedo, but some swaddling, a pair of red slippers and his grandfather’s old black coat do quite nicely. Little Turtle’s enthusiasm is as communicable as pink-eye, and all the kids in his class get it. For a day they are penguins: waddling, belly-sliding, passing a ball about with their feet as penguins do their eggs. Then that night, Father Turtle reads Little Turtle a book about monkeys. Pass the bananas. Gorbachev’s narrative is easy, keeping the story suggestively simple so as to let the reader slip right in, and his ink-and-watercolor artwork basks in the elemental joy of make-believe. Not so sly as sweet: Just as Little Turtle is ready to shrug out of his shell, readers will be anxious to shrug into theirs. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-375-84374-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2008
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tiny tortoise discovers just how brave he is when his girl unexpectedly takes a bus headed away from home.
Truman, like his girl, Sarah, is quiet, “peaceful and pensive,” unlike the busy, noisy city outside their building’s window. In just the first few spreads, Reidy and Cummins manage to capture the close relationship between the girl and her pet, so it’s understandable that Truman should worry when he adds up the day’s mysterious clues: a big backpack, a large banana, a bow in Sarah’s hair, extra green beans in Truman’s dish, and, especially, Sarah boarding the No. 11 bus. He’s so worried that he decides to go after her, a daunting feat for a tortoise the size of a small doughnut. Cummins’ gouache, brush marker, charcoal, colored pencil, and digital illustrations marvelously convey both the big picture of Truman’s navigation of the house and his tortoise’s-eye view of things. And the ending, when Sarah arrives home in time to scoop him up before he slips under the front door, stuttering her amazement at his brave feats, is just right. Sarah and her mother have pale skin and straight, black hair; other city dwellers are diverse. Peaceful and pensive like Truman himself, this book charms; there’s just something uplifting and wonderful about the whole package.
Never underestimate the feats an animal will brave in order to be reunited with their loved ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1664-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Chato and Novio Boy, low-riding East Los Angeles homeboys of the feline variety, have dinner guests. The invitees, a family of five fat mice who just moved in next door, haven't an inkling that they are the intended main course. But when the mice bring along their friend Chorizo (a worldly mutt in a slouch beret) to share the grub, he thwarts the cats' connivings. This unlikely three- species chow-down is a sweet salute to Spanish cooking, with fajitas, frijoles, and quesadillas sharing center stage. Soto delivers a spare, clever text; the words skip like stones across water—``His tail began to swing to the rhythm. He felt the twinge of mambo in his hips.'' Guevara's swarming, luxuriant illustrations give the atmosphere palpability, with brushstrokes so fresh readers will want to stick their fingers in the paint to feel its texture. Menace hangs in the air; the artist mixes the sinisterness of R. Crumb with moments of Edvard Munch terror, yet it seems likely from the outset that the mice are more than capable of looking after themselves. Incidental touches—little devils and angels darting about, a bird wedding glimpsed through a window—are there for the sharp-eyed. Smart, with a nice edge. Soto's inspired finger-snapping prose has found an equally imaginative comrade in Guevara's colorful urban paintings. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 22, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-22658-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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