| 2019 |
| Hello Lighthouse |
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Sophie Blackall
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. This tribute to lighthouses of an earlier era focuses on one lighthouse and its dedicated keeper. Perched "on the highest rock of a tiny island / at the edge of the world," the lighthouse shines for seafaring ships. A new keeper arrives, continuing the endless routine of polishing the lens, refilling the oil, trimming the wick, winding the clockwork, painting the round rooms, fishing, making tea, sending letters to his wife (in bottles), and writing daily in his logbook. One day, a ship delivering supplies brings the keeper's wife! The keeper rings a warning bell in fog, rescues wrecked sailors, and logs his baby's birth. When he's ill, his stalwart wife tends the light and maintains the logbook. Eventually, a mechanical light replaces the keeper. While the spare, unemotional text resembles a keeper's log, the book's vertical orientation echoes a lighthouse tower. Rendered in Chinese ink and watercolor, precise, detailed illustrations present the lighthouse surrounded by patterned blue, green, or gray waves depending on the weather or season, reinforcing its solitary enterprise. A cutaway interior view exposes a compact, contained world. Close-ups of the keeper and his wife (both white) in porthole-shaped frames and from unusual aerial views emphasize their isolated, intimate, circular environment. An "About Lighthouses" section adds insightful detail. A fascinating, splendidly executed peek into both the mundane and the dramatic aspects of lighthouse life. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780316362382 This tall, narrow picture book opens as a new keeper arrives to take up his duties at a remote lighthouse; it ends with his departure, automation having made his job obsolete. In between we are treated to a series of snapshots of lighthouse-keeper life--a mix of routine and excitement. Blackall's gorgeous illustrations provide both homey detail and spectacular scenery. An extensive and lively author's note is appended. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2019 |
| Alma and How She Got Her Name |
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Juana Martinez Neal
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Alma Sofia Esperanza Jos Pura Candela has a very long name, and she's about to find out how she came to have it.Alma is a cute little girl with the sweetest pair of striped red-and-white pants ever. She also happens to have a very long nameso long, in fact, that it never fits. Her father sits her down to tell her the story of her name, "Then you decide if it fits." And so Alma learns about her grandmother Sofia; her great-grandmother Esperanza; her grandfather Jos; her great-aunt Pura; and her other grandmother Candela. And Alma? She learns Alma was picked just for her. "You will make your own story." Peruvian-born Martinez-Neal never expresses it in the text, but the illustrations are filled with references to Peru, the country where Alma's family comes from. Mostly monochromatic against a cream background, the illustrationsprint transfers with graphite and colored pencilsare delightful, capturing the distinctive essences of Alma's many namesakes. Alma is depicted as the color of the paper background, with pink cheeks and a black bob haircut. Whereas the story starts with Alma's name written in a childish print on a piece of paper that needs an extra piece of paper taped to it, the story ends with Alma's name in grand and elegant display types. That's her name, and it fits her just right! A Spanish edition, Alma y cmo obtuvo su nombre, publishes simultaneously.A celebration of identity, family and belonging. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780763693558 Alma Sofia Esperanza Josi Pura Candela feels self-conscious about her long name until her father tells her about the family members after whom she is named. The pictures--grayscale print-transfer illustrations with soft textures--steal the show in their depiction of the sweet closeness between Alma and her father as well as her connection to her ancestors. Also available in Spanish. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2019 |
| A Big Mooncake for Little Star |
Grace Lin
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Little Star has trouble resisting the Big Mooncake that Mama has hung in the sky in Lin's (When the Sea Turned Silver, 2016, etc.) luminous departure from her usual block-print style.After Little Star and her mama, both wearing jet-black pajamas adorned with bright yellow stars, bake a huge yellow mooncake, Mama reminds Little Star to leave it in the sky to cool. Of course Little Star tries, but she wakes in the night, unable to resist taking a tiny nibble. Mama surely won't notice. Each subsequent night, Little Star steals another bite, and soon observant readers may realize what is happening: The Big Mooncake is waning from a full moon to a new moon. Lin's storytelling is both clever and radiant. Painted in gouache against perfectly black pages, the characters' pajamas have no edges, only the stars defining the separation between foreground and background. The mooncake gleams against the black as well, crumbs scattering like stars in the skya visual delight, suffusing the book with a feeling of otherworldliness that is offset by Little Star's childlike authenticity and her loving relationship with Mama. An author's note on the jacket flap indicates that while this story is not rooted in Chinese cosmology, it is Lin's homage to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, her "favorite Asian holiday."A warm and glowing modern myth. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780316404488 In the night sky, Little Star and her mother bake a mooncake, the sweet treat associated with the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. As the Big Mooncake hangs to cool, the girl's hunger overcomes her. It's all mesmerizing: Little Star's astral home; her outsized sense of mischief; the dwindling, nibbled-upon cake as a stand-in for the waning moon; and Lin's pleasing, soothing text, perfect for reading aloud to little moon-watchers on Earth. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2019 |
| The Rough Patch |
Brian Lies
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780062671271 Evan (an anthropomorphized fox) and his dog enjoy doing everything together, especially working in Evan's garden. Lies's lush acrylic, oil, and colored-pencil illustrations with delicate line work evoke the magnificence of Evan's garden, then his intense sadness and isolation after his beloved dog dies. This tender story of loss, hope, and recovery comes full circle when Evan hesitantly returns to gardening--and gets a new puppy, to boot. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Nature brings healing and a reawakening of the heart.Evan, a farmer, is a red fox; his best friend and trusty companion is a black mutt. They do everything together, including work in Evan's lush garden. Eventually the dog dies, and Evan is inconsolable. Progressing through the stages of grief, Evan mourns, then feels bitter anger and destroys the garden, hacking it to pieces (presumably not, as some readers may wonder, the corner where he buried his friend). Matching Evan's mood, the formerly beautiful place is now weed-filled and forlorn. A creeping pumpkin vine gradually helps Evan to reassess his thinking. Deciding not to destroy the nascent plant, he cultivates it; his tender horticultural touch allows the pumpkin to develop into a gourd of enormous proportions. Bringing it to the fair, Evan wins third placeand oh, what a prize he chooses, revealed wordlessly on the book's final page! This story is simply and subtly told with admirably genuine emotion, but the textured, strong-hued art is the real standout. Charming images, such as Evan's gardening boots with holes for claws, and heart-wrenching onesnote Evan's bending over the dog's unmoving bodyare to savor. Lies also matches colors and characters' expressiveness to moods and provides white space around numerous vignettes to focus readers' attention. Reassuring and clear, this is a heartfelt story about loss and discovering that one can love again. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2019 |
| Thank You, Omu! |
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Oge Mora
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780316431248 The "scrumptious scent" of grandmotherly Omu's thick red stew wafts out her apartment window; a little boy inquires after the delicious smell, followed by a peckish police officer and more until Omu's generosity means that she has no stew left for dinner. But everyone returns, this time to share with Omu. Mixed-media layers give the collage illustrations depth. Mora times her story perfectly, and repetition will encourage group participation. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Omu makes a stew so delicious everyone in the neighborhood follows their noses to her door.Omu (which means "queen" in IgboOmu is black) is making a "thick red stew in a big fat pot" for her dinner. She tastes it, saying it'll be the most delicious supper she's ever had, while out the window drifts the scent of the "scrumptious" stew until it reaches a little boy. The story is peppered with synonyms for "scrumptious" (itself repeated throughout), allowing readers the chance to discuss and expand vocabulary. When the little boy follows the smell to Omu's door, she kindly offers to share her stew with him. So begins a veritable parade of neighborhood residents who, led by the smell, end up at Omu's door. The collage art adds texture, depth, and distinctiveness to each character. Omu shares her thick red stew with all and receives grateful thanks in reply. Alas, when Omu looks for her own supper, she finds her pot empty. The expressive illustrations convey her despondency as she answers yet another knock at her door to findthat the multiracial neighbors she shared with are back! This time, they have gifts in hand and are ready to make her a wonderful supper, which turns into another shared meal and a dance party.A lovely story of giving and community founded in Nigerian culture. Delectable. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2018 |
| Wolf in the Snow |
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Matthew Cordell
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781250076366 A child carries a lost wolf pup to its family during a blizzard. The wolves repay the favor, staying with the exhausted child and howling until, guided by the wolves' cries, the child's parents arrive. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations balance detail and emotion. Hand-lettered sound effects in this otherwise wordless story support the cinematic feel created through varying perspectives and loosely demarcated panels. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A near-wordless story of kindness repaid.As the book starts, readers see a dark-haired, light-skinned family starting their day. A girl in a red, hooded parka bids goodbye to her dog, and with snow beginning to come down, shes off to school. As it happens, a wolf pack is also on the move. On her way home the snow has intensified. In a dramatic two-page spread the wolf pack can be seen walking in the girls direction, clouds of steamy air coming out of mouths filled with pointy teeth. As the girl trudges on, head lowered to the falling snow, and the wolf pack also trudges on, a wolf cub is left behind. Eventually, the girl and the scared, lost cub meet. Hearing the wolf pack howling in the distance, the girl takes the cub and, facing many perils, reunites cub and pack. Now exhausted and unable to move on, she collapses in the snow. The grateful pack returns favor for favor, and as its members surround and protect the girl, they howl in a call to her family, who has been out looking for her. The last page shows the family warm and safe back home. What distinguishes this book are the many feelings that Cordells pen-and-inkwith-watercolor illustrations capture so wellcold, fear, courage, exhaustion, reliefkeeping readers hooked to the end. Deeply satisfying. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781250076366 A child carries a lost wolf pup to its family during a blizzard. The wolves repay the favor, staying with the exhausted child and howling until, guided by the wolves' cries, the child's parents arrive. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations balance detail and emotion. Hand-lettered sound effects in this otherwise wordless story support the cinematic feel created through varying perspectives and loosely demarcated panels. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2018 |
| Big Cat, Little Cat |
Elisha Cooper
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781626723719 This unsentimental picture book about the cycle of life rivets our attention on a housecat and its kitten companion--and then, after the death of the first, the now-grown second cat's new companion. Cooper's thick black lines produce figures full of kinetic energy and personality. The circular story is beautifully reinforced by repetition in the spare art and text; it's at once realistic and comforting. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781626723719 This unsentimental picture book about the cycle of life rivets our attention on a housecat and its kitten companion--and then, after the death of the first, the now-grown second cat's new companion. Cooper's thick black lines produce figures full of kinetic energy and personality. The circular story is beautifully reinforced by repetition in the spare art and text; it's at once realistic and comforting. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2018 |
| Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut |
Derrick Barnes
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Safe to say, there's nothing like the feeling of the fresh cut. You feel so extra visible with a fresh new cut, and this book built from that experience translates it in a way never before brought to the children's bookshelf. Basquiat-inspired king insignias and a bit of Kehinde Wiley flair shape portraits of all the various ways men (and women too!) come into the black barbershop to restore their cool, leaving the chair with high self-esteem, self-pride, and confidenceif only for as long as their hairlines remain crisp. It's sacred. The all-important line and the diverse styles take center stage here. The Big Daddy Kane-homage flat-top. The part. The light shape-up surrounded by cornrows and locs. The taper. The classic wavy dark Caesar. Barnes' imaginative prose mirrors the hyperbole and swagger of the barbershop. No cut is just good. It will have you looking "presidential," "majestic." Like you own "a couple of acres of land on Saturn." The swagger is on a million. The sauce is drippin'. James' oil-based portraiture will send many readers reminiscing. This book oozes black cool and timely, much-needed black joy, using the unique and expansive experience of the barbershop to remind young boys that their inner lives have always mattered there. One of the best reads for young black boys in years, it should be in every library, media center, and, yes, barbershop. (Picture book. 5-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781572842243 The unnamed black protagonist tells of his barbershop haircut from start to finish, narrating most of it in the second person. James's color-saturated illustrations capture the boy's bravado, swagger, and even his humility, which he needs in accepting a post-cut kiss from his admiring mother. Alternately precise, metaphorical, and culturally specific, Barnes's descriptions make each page a serendipity. A not-to-be-missed portrayal of the beauty of black boyhood. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2018 |
| A Different Pond |
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Bao Phi
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A fishing trip is not just a fishing trip in this poignant, semiautobiographical tale. As a young boy growing up in a Vietnamese refugee family in Minneapolis, Phi would wake up "hours before the sun comes up" to go fishing with his dad. Right from the start, he hints at his family's dire straits: "In the kitchen the bare bulb is burning." Readers learn they are up so early because his dad got a second job. And Phi asks innocently, "If you got another job, why do we still have to fish for food?" At the pond, father and son share moments of tenderness. A nod herewhen Phi lights a fire with one strike of a match; a warning thereto avoid "the spicy stuff" in his bologna sandwich. Father and son also bond through stories. "I used to fish by a pond like this one when I was a boy in Vietnam," says Dad. "With your brother?" Phi asks. Dad nods and looks away, a clue to the unspeakable devastation of the war. When they catch enough fish for dinner they head home, Phi dreaming about the landscape of Dad's home country. Together, Phi's gentle, melodic prose and Bui's evocative art, presented in brushy and vividly colored panels and double-page spreads, rise above the melancholy to tell a powerful, multilayered story about family, memory, and the costs of becoming a refugee. Spare and simple, a must-read for our times. (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2018 |
| Grand Canyon |
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Jason Chin
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781596439504 Vacationing in the Grand Canyon provides a father and daughter--and readers--numerous opportunities to explore this national park's geology and ecology. Travel guidelike narration presents accurate scientific information, as do page perimeters filled with delicate sketches and diagrams. Detailed, scenic watercolors portraying actual sites cleverly feature selected objects through subtle die-cuts that transport the girl back to ancient geologic environments. Reading list. Bib. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781596439504 Vacationing in the Grand Canyon provides a father and daughter--and readers--numerous opportunities to explore this national park's geology and ecology. Travel guidelike narration presents accurate scientific information, as do page perimeters filled with delicate sketches and diagrams. Detailed, scenic watercolors portraying actual sites cleverly feature selected objects through subtle die-cuts that transport the girl back to ancient geologic environments. Reading list. Bib. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2017 |
| Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat |
Javaka Steptoe
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Steptoe chronicles the formative years and evolving style of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a Brooklyn-born graffiti artist with a rising career in the 1980s fine arts world; coverage ceases before his untimely drug-related death at age 27.Steptoes canvas is wood salvaged from the Brooklyn Museum and locales that Basquiat frequented. Spaces between the patched fragments contribute to the impression of a disjointed childhood. Steptoe shows that Basquiat was smart and driven early on, influenced by his Haitian fathers jazz records and his Puerto Rican mothers style, encouragement, breakdown, and institutionalization when he was only 7. Prior to that, she drew with him, took him to see Picassos Guernica, and gave him Greys Anatomy following a serious car accident. Images of body parts imprint his increasingly complex political paintings, along with other recurring motifs explained in outstanding backmatter. Several sentences per spread speak with understated lyricism and poignancy, an occasional internal rhyme underscoring a point: Jean-Michel is confused and filled with a terrible blues / when Matilde can no longer live at home. Acknowledging his multifaceted sense of connection, Steptoe interprets Basquiats style instead of inserting particular works. Vibrant colors and personal symbols channel the sloppy, ugly, and sometimes weird, but somehow still BEAUTIFUL paintings, incorporating meticulously attributed collage elements and capturing the artists energy and mystery. Stellar bookmakinga riveting portrait of a young artist. (authors note, bibliography, biography) (Picture book/biography. 6-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780316213882 The art world first took note of Jean-Michel Basquiat's graffiti in the late 1970s. He earned a large following and several art shows but was often discouraged by racism. Steptoe's style, similar to Basquiat's with its vivid palette and use of found objects, provides a close impression of the painter's work. Appended notes provide additional information about Basquiat's life and art. Bib. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2017 |
| Freedom in Congo Square |
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Carole Boston
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781499801033 In Louisiana, enslaved Africans were provided a half-day of rest each Sunday; in New Orleans, they gathered in Congo Square. Spare couplets, describing the labors and horrors of slavery, count down to Sunday. Weatherford sugarcoats nothing, but the text isn't mired in sadness or pain. Christie's illustrations, which recall Jacob Lawrence's work, add even more emotional depth. A foreword provides historical context. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Count down the days until Sunday, a day for slaves in New Orleans to gather together and remember their African heritage. In rhyming couplets, Weatherford vividly describes each day of nonstop work under a "dreaded lash" until Sunday, when slaves and free blacks could assemble in Congo Square, now a part of New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Park and on the National Register of Historic Places. Musicians "drummed ancestral roots alive" on different traditional instruments, and men and women danced. They also exchanged information and sold wares. The poetry is powerful and evocative, providing a strong and emotional window into the world of the slave. Christie's full-bleed paintings are a moving accompaniment. His elongated figures toil in fields and in houses with bent backs under the watchful eyes of overseers with whips. Then on Sunday, they greet one another and dance with expressively charged spirits. One brilliant double-page spread portrays African masks and instruments with swirling lines of text; it is followed by another with four dancers moving beautifullyalmost ethereallyon a vibrant yellow collage background. As the author notes, jazz would soon follow from the music played in Congo Square. Weatherford and Christie dazzlingly salute African-Americans' drive to preserve their dignity and pride. (foreword, glossary, author's note) (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2017 |
| Du Iz Tak? |
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Carson Ellis
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Viewers follow the unfurling of an exotic woodland plant through the actions and invented language of beautifully coiffed and clothed insects. The nonsense narrative is presented through dialogue. Because the conversations connect to specific phenomena and many words are repeated, decoding occurs fairly quickly. Du iz tak? (Probably: What is that?) Ma ebadow unk plonk. (Perhaps: I think its a plant.) The true meaning is anyones guess, but therein lies the fun. A large trim size and an abundance of white space on the opening pages send readers eyes to the delicate ink-and-gouache winged creatures and the small green shoot at the base of the spreads. Over several days and nights, the scene builds: a caterpillar forms a cocoon; a snail emerges from its well-appointed log to lend a ribble (ladder) so its friends can build a furt in the rising stalk; a cricket fiddles in the moonlight. Danger appearsa menacing spider that seems intent on caging the plant in its web until an enormous bird swoops in, altering the course of events. But there is glory too as the gladdenboot blooms and the encapsulated moth takes flight. This is certain to ignite readers interest and imaginings regarding their natural surroundings. Following the minute changes as the pages turn is to watch growth, transformation, death, and rebirth presented as enthralling spectacle. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2017 |
| They All Saw a Cat |
Brendan Wenzel
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781452150130 As a sleek, realistic-looking cat walks "through the world," a diverse assortment of creatures happens upon it, each with a distinct perception of the feline. Rendered in "almost everything imaginable," Wenzel's colorful, dazzling illustrations are as varied from page to page as the animals represented. The spare but steady text uses all-caps and italics for emphasis and plenty of rhythm and repetition. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2016 |
| Finding Winnie: The True Story of the Worlds Most Famous Bear |
Lindsay Mattick
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A mother tells a true bedtime story about the bear that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh's name. Mom tells little Cole about Harry, a veterinarian in Winnipeg "about a hundred years before you were born." En route to his World War I muster, Harry buys a bear cub from a trapper and names her Winnipeg "so we'll never be far from home." Winnie travels overseas with the Canadian soldiers to training in England, but when they ship out to France for actual combat, Harry leaves her at the London Zoo. "That's the end of Harry and Winnie's story," but another section begins, about a boy named Christopher Robin Milne who plays with Winnie at the London Zoo. Christopher Robin names his stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh after her, and his fatherA.A. Milne, of coursetakes the name and runs with it. Mattick's prose has a storyteller's rhythm and features the occasional flourish (repeating "his heart made up his mind"); Blackall's watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a peaceful stillness that's welcome in a book that, though not about combat, concerns the trappings of war. A photo album includes snapshots of Winnie with her soldiers and with Christopher Robin. The piece has something of a split personality, and the Winnie-the-Pooh angle comes so late it seems almost an afterthought. Beautiful but bifurcated, with the two stories in one making it a challenge to determine the audience. (photo album) (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780316324908 A boy's mother tells him the story of his great-great-grandfather, owner of a baby bear named Winnie, and the circumstances that led to another boy, Christopher Robin Milne, befriending Winnie--inspiring that boy's father to write some children's tales. Mattick, the storytelling mother in this book, embellishes her family's history with evocative, playful language, matched by the period warmth of Blackall's carefully composed images. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2016 |
| Trombone Shorty |
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Troy Andrews
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. An autobiographical tale of a young man who started making "musical gumbo" at age 4. Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews relates how he grew up in Trem in New Orleans, American's oldest black neighborhood, where he heard music everywhere. Young Troy admires his big brother's trumpet playing and makes music without instruments with his friends. After finding a discarded trombone, the little boy teaches himself to play. Troy narrates: "I was so small that sometimes I fell right overbecause it was so heavy." (Despite Collier's illustrations of young "Shorty," nothing prepares readers for his size in the parade photograph in the backmatter.) When Bo Diddley hears him playing in the crowd at the New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival, the jazz great invites him to the stage. An author's note explains that Troy started a band at age 6 and joined Lenny Kravitz's band at 19. Trombone Shorty Orleans Avenue, his band, tours the world, and Troy shares New Orleans music and culture through his foundation and music academy. Employing his unmistakable mixed-media collage images, Collier portrays the story of this living legend with energy and style, making visible the swirling sounds of jazz. This well-told and exquisitely illustrated story of a musician with a steep career trajectory will inspire young readers to pursue their passions, despite the challenges. (illustrator's note) (Picture book/biography. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781419714658 Andrews, a.k.a. Trombone Shorty, concentrates on his younger years: growing up in New Orleans's Tremi neighborhood; making his own instruments before acquiring a trombone; practicing constantly; appearing onstage with Bo Diddley; and finally forming his own successful band. Expressive watercolor collages layer and texture each page, creating a mix of images that echo the combination of styles in Andrews's "musical gumbo. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2016 |
| Waiting |
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Kevin Henkes
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780062368430 Waiting is a huge part of every child's life, and Henkes uses a light touch to address the topic. Five toys, outlined in brown and filled in with muted colors, wait on a windowsill. Time passes slowly through seasons; small changes in body positions and eyes show a range of emotions. A straightforward text sets up predictable patterns with small surprises, while the design is varied to create momentum. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Five toys ranged on a windowsill exemplify existential pleasure. In the mode of such pastel-hued, minimalist delights as A Good Day (2007), Henkes presents a pig with an umbrella, a bear with a kite, a puppy on a sled, an owl with spots, and a rabbit with stars (this last is depicted as a spring-loaded rabbit head, rather like the innards of a jack-in-the-box). Respectively, the first four wait for the rain, the wind, the snow, and the moon; the rabbit just likes waiting. Henkes keeps readers gently off-balance as to the nature of these toys' sentience. Sometimes, as when comically on their backs "sleeping," they seem stiff and immobile; other times, as when they huddle together during a thunderstorm, eyes wide and frightened, their bodies exude warmth and softness. Images are snapshots of single moments, and never is a child depicted; it is left to readers to decide whether the toys move on their own or have been posed by a hand outside the frame. The story is all about quietly filling in the gaps; though little appears to happen beyond the changing of seasons and arrival (and in one case, tragic departure) of other toys, the protagonists' contentment with just waiting is contagious. Waiting as a joyful activity in itself is almost never celebrated; this Zen-like meditation might win some converts. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2016 |
| Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement |
Carole Boston Weatherford
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A welcome addition to civil rights literature for children. Ask American children to recall a book on Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, and most can. Fannie Lou Hamer? They will likely come up short. This expansive, richly illustrated biography about the "voice of the civil rights movement" recounts Hamer's humble and poverty-stricken beginnings in 1917 as the 20th child of Mississippi sharecroppers through her struggle to fight for the rights of black people on local, regional, and national levels. Hamer's quotes appear frequently in Weatherford's free-verse poetry, giving readers a sense of how and what she spoke: "Black people work so hard, and we ain't got nothin' / to show for it." The author also includes painful truths, describing the "night riders' " pursuit of Hamer after she attempted to register to vote and a brutal beating at the hands of police following her arrest, from which she suffered lifetime injuries. Hamer's determination, perseverance, and unwavering resolve come through on every page. Holmes' quiltlike collage illustrations emphasize the importance Hamer placed on community among African-Americans. Young readers who open this book with just a vague notion of who Fannie Lou Hamer was will wonder no more after absorbing this striking portrait of the singer and activist. Bold, honest, informative, and unforgettable. (author's note, timeline, source notes, bibliography) (Picture book/poetry/biography. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780763665319 Weatherford chronicles the life of civil rights icon Hamer from her beginnings as the child of Mississippi sharecroppers, through the evolution of her political awareness, to her lasting impact on the civil rights movement. Conversational free-verse text seamlessly incorporates direct quotes; richly colored collage illustrations add emotional heft. This majestic biography places the civil rights movement in personal, local, national, and international contexts. Timeline. Bib. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2016 |
| Last Stop on Market Street |
Matt De La Pena
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A young boy yearns for what he doesn't have, but his nana teaches him to find beauty in what he has and can give, as well as in the city where they live. CJ doesn't want to wait in the rain or take the bus or go places after church. But through Nana's playful imagination and gentle leadership, he begins to see each moment as an opportunity: Trees drink raindrops from straws; the bus breathes fire; and each person has a story to tell. On the bus, Nana inspires an impromptu concert, and CJ's lifted into a daydream of colors and light, moon and magic. Later, when walking past broken streetlamps on the way to the soup kitchen, CJ notices a rainbow and thinks of his nana's special gift to see "beautiful where he never even thought to look." Through de la Pea's brilliant text, readers can hear, feel and taste the city: its grit and beauty, its quiet moments of connectedness. Robinson's exceptional artwork works with it to ensure that readers will fully understand CJ's journey toward appreciation of the vibrant, fascinating fabric of the city. Loosely defined patterns and gestures offer an immediate and raw quality to the Sasek-like illustrations. Painted in a warm palette, this diverse urban neighborhood is imbued with interest and possibility. This celebration of cross-generational bonding is a textual and artistic tour de force. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780399257742 CJ, a young black boy, has a flurry of questions for his grandmother one rainy day. "How come we always gotta go here after church?" "Here" is a soup kitchen, where they work every Sunday. Nana has bottomless look-on-the-sunny-side answers, but she isn't dispensing bromides; the exquisitely composed collage illustrations showing a glamour-free urban setting forbid a glib reading. A quietly remarkable book. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| The adventures of Beekle : the unimaginary friend |
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Dan Santat
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780316199988 Imaginary friend Beekle waits and waits for a child to think him into existence. When it doesn't happen, Beekle sails off to the real world--a city full of boring adults--to find her. Santat's bright digital illustrations capture the vivid land of imagination, the drab adult world, and the giggle-inducing expressions on marshmallow-like Beekle's pudgy white face. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| Nana in the city |
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by Lauren Castillo
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A child learns to appreciate Nanas urban environs.Nana has a new apartment in the city, and her grandchild is excited but nervous about visiting. I love my nana, / but I dont love the city, she tells readers. Accompanying art depicts how the city seems busy and loud and filled with scary things. Illustrating the last point, the picture shows the child small and scared against a graffitied wall while following Nana and looking back at a homeless man who is begging with a cup held before him. That night, Nana listens to her grandchilds fears and promises a better day, but she also describes her love of the city. A facing wordless spread depicts Nana knitting into the night; careful readers may recognize the red yarn from a title-page vignette of two cats with a ball of yarn. The next day, she gifts her grandchild a knitted red cape (the same one depicted in jacket art). This acts as a security blanket or magical talisman of sorts to change the childs perspective of the city. Even an encounter with the previously scary homeless person becomes an opportunity for kindness as Nana hands him not money, but food. Throughout, Castillos soft, warmly colored art expresses the childs changing feelings about the city while also depicting the characters close bond.A sweet story for country-mouse readers. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780544104433 Visiting Nana in the city, the unnamed child narrator is initially unreceptive to the appeal. "The city is busy...loud...[and] filled with scary things." Nana promises to show her young visitor that "the city is wonderful--bustling, booming, and extraordinary," and their tour the following day does just that. The simple, meaningful text is well served by richly detailed watercolors conveying a bustling city. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| The noisy paint box : the colors and sounds of Kandinsky's abstract art |
by Barb Rosenstock ; illustrated by Mary GrandPre
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780307978486 Pioneering abstract artist Vasily Kandinsky experienced "colors as sounds, and sounds as colors," a neurological condition called synesthesia. Concentrating primarily on Kandinsky's childhood, Rosenstock embellishes known events with dialogue. GrandPri does a fine job showing color and sound as abstractions while presenting the artist and his surroundings realistically. An author's note provides more information about the artist and four reproductions. Websites. Bib. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| Sam and dave dig a hole. |
Mac Barnett
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. When Sam and Dave dig a hole, readers get "something spectacular." The boys, on the other hand, do not. Their quest to find the spectacular brings them painfully and humorously close to buried jewels as they spade their way into the ground, accompanied by an intrepid canine companion. Readers occupy a superior position as cross-section illustrations reveal those jewels buried just out of the shovels' reach. Each time they near one, the increasingly grubby boys maddeningly change course. On they dig, tunneling in different directions, and each effort reveals (to readers) yet larger jewels evading them. Exhausted, they fall asleep, but the dog digs after a bone it senses below. In an unexpected turn, the ground gives way to nothingness, and the trio falls through empty space "until they landed in the soft dirt." At first glance, it seems they've ended up where they began: A small tree stands on the recto, and a house with a porch is on the verso, as before. But careful readers will notice that the tree here bears pears, while the tree at the story's start had apples. Other differing details (a weathervane duck instead of a chicken; a blue flower instead of a red one; a blue cat collar instead of a red) suggest that they've unwittingly fallen into another dimension. Poor Sam and Dave. Lucky readers. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780763662295 Sam and Dave hope to dig up "something spectacular" but, alas, unearth nothing, repeatedly coming close to (but just missing) precious gems. When their dog, digging for a bone, ruptures the hole's dirt floor, the explorers fall "down, down, down," and land in what appears to be their own yard. Well-chosen words and plentiful white space support readers; cross-section illustrations add visual humor. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| Viva Frida! |
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Yuyi Morales
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. This luminescent homage to Frida Kahlo doesn't hew to her artwork's mood but entrances on its own merit. Adults will recognize Kahlo's signature eyebrows, but readers of all ages will be caught immediately by the bewitchingly bright colors and detailed photographs. Morales makes her figures from steel, polymer clay and wool, and the illustrations come together with acrylic paint, digital manipulation and O'Meara's dramatically angled photographs of the scenes. Kahlo has the thin, posable arms and stiff legs of a fashion doll, with earrings, a necklace and flowered dresses. Her vibe is contented curiosity as she and her monkey explore a box and find a skeleton marionette. A second thread shows Kahlo as two-dimensional (possibly doll-Kahlo's dream?), rescuing a wounded deer; doll-Kahlo then includes the deer in a self-portrait. Vivid textures and high-saturation colors enthrall. However, the text (in English and Spanish) is platitudinous and vague: "I realize / that / I feel / And I understand / that I love / And create / And so / I live!" It would be impossible (and undesirable) to translate the violence, pain and anger of Kahlo's work for an audience this young; these illustrations, while including some of her visual motifs, don't even try. The final spread is downright festive. Morales' author's note (also in English and Spanish) provides a brief biographical sketch that makes clear the artist's profound effect on her.Out of context, visually radiant; as an introduction to Kahlo herself, almost irrelevant. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781596436039 Morales initially shows Kahlo as a puppet: made from steel, polymer clay, and wool, three-dimensional figures are photographed and digitally manipulated inside double-page-spread collages. As we enter Kahlo's mind, the medium changes to lush acrylics. The illustrations are accompanied by just a few words of text in both Spanish and English that leave readers with a dreamlike impression. An ingenious tour de force. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| The right word : Roget and his thesaurus |
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by Jen Bryant ; illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780802853851 Apt language and ingenious imagery combine to tell the life story of Peter Mark Roget, creator of the thesaurus. Bryant's linear telling follows Peter closely, expressing his curiosity, sensitivity, and populist spirit in language both decorous and warm. Clever book design and visionary illustration add layers of meaning. Sweet embellishes her own gentle watercolors with all manner of clippings and realia. Reading list, timeline. Bib. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2015 |
| This one summer |
Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A summer of family drama, secrets and change in a small beach town.Rose's family has always vacationed in Awago Beach. It's "a place where beer grows on trees and everyone can sleep in until eleven," but this year's getaway is proving less idyllic than those of the past. Rose's parents argue constantly, and she is painfully aware of her mother's unhappiness. Though her friendship with Windy, a younger girl, remains strong, Rose is increasingly curious about the town's older teens, especially Dunc, a clerk at the general store. Jillian and Mariko Tamaki (Skim, 2008) skillfully portray the emotional ups and downs of a girl on the cusp of adolescence in this eloquent graphic novel. Rose waxes nostalgic for past summers even as she rejects some old pursuits as too childlike and mimics the older teens. The realistic dialogue and sensitive first-person narration convey Rose's navet and confusion, and Windy's comfort in her own skin contrasts with Rose's uncertainty. Both the text and art highlight small but meaningful incidents as readers gradually learn the truth behind the tension in Rose's family. Printed in dark blue ink, Jillian Tamaki's illustrations feature strong, fluid lines, and the detailed backgrounds and stunning two-page spreads throughout the work establish the mood and a compelling sense of place.Keenly observed and gorgeously illustrateda triumph. (Graphic novel. 13 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781626720947 Rose's family goes to Awago Beach every summer. This year she's feeling too old for some of the activities she used to love--and even for her more-childish friend Windy. Rose's contemplative observations and flashbacks, along with the book's realistic dialogue, offer insight into her evolving personality, while the dramatic perspective changes and purply-blue ink illustrations capture the graphic novel's raw emotional core. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2014 |
| Locomotive |
Brian Floca
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Floca took readers to the moon with the Apollo 11 mission in Moonshot (2009); now he takes them across the country on an equally historic journey of 100 years earlier. In a collegial direct address, he invites readers to join a family--mother, daughter and son--on one of the first passenger trips from Omaha to Sacramento after the meeting of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific in May 1869. With encyclopedic enthusiasm, Floca visually documents the trip, vignettes illustrating the train's equipment as well as such must-know details as toilet and sleeping conditions. Full- and double-page spreads take advantage of the book's unusually large trim for breathtaking long shots of the American landscape and thrilling perspectives of the muscular engine itself. The nameless girl and boy provide touchstones for readers throughout, dubiously eyeing an unidentifiable dinner, juddering across a trestle, staring out with wide-eyed wonder. Unjustly undersung as a writer, Floca soars with his free-verse narrative, exploiting alliteration, assonance and internal rhyme to reinforce the rhythms of the journey. Frequent variations in font and type ("HUFF HUFF HUFF!" is spelled out in ornate, antique letters) further boost the excitement. Front endpapers provide detail on the building of the transcontinental railroad; back endpapers show the steam engine in cross section, explaining exactly how coal and water made it go. Nothing short of spectacular, just like the journey it describes. (Informational picture book. 4-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781416994152 Striking cinematic front endpapers describe the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. Then, in a sort of historical-fiction-meets-travelogue narrative, Floca zeroes in on one family's journey from Omaha to San Francisco. Floca excels at juxtaposing sweeping panoramas with intimate, slice-of-life moments. Varied font sizes and styles on the large pages beautifully capture the feel of the Old West. An author's note is included. Bib. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2014 |
| Journey |
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Aaron Becker
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780763660536 In the tradition of Harold and the Purple Crayon, this wordless story follows a bored girl who uses a crayon (red) to draw herself into other worlds. Unlike Harold, the worlds she enters are lush, detailed, and elaborate, and she gets pulled into a rescue mission involving a purple bird. There is much to pore over in the watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Ignored by her digitally distracted family, a girl draws a red door on her bedroom wall and steps through. A lush green forest twinkles with lanterns and strung lights; a dizzying castle towers, its gates, turrets and halls linked by complicated waterways; a hovering aircraft festooned with propellers and wheels holds an imprisoned purple-plumed bird. Amid these marvels, the girl appears markedly ordinary with her common pageboy haircut, minimal facial features and simple clothes. She could be anyone, really, and readers will easily appropriate her journey as their own. Putty-colored grays and flat, boxy city shapes defined the girl's urban reality, but here, color rules, modulating from mossy greens to slate blues to dusky purple--all punctuated with her crayon's brilliant red and the yellow of a golden bird cage. White pages highlight action (the girl's crayon whips up a boat, a hot air balloon and a magic carpet when needed), but most spreads deliver fantastically intricate pen, ink and watercolor architectural illustrations that remain playfully engrossing. They conjure contextual questions with no clear answers, or perhaps with so many answers one's imagination finds itself opening door upon door and crossing thresholds, just as the girl did to escape loneliness. After freeing the bird, she needs its help for a quick escape through a small purple door back to her everyday street and back to a boy who wields an equally powerful purple crayon (an obvious and moving homage). An imaginative adventure story whose elaborate illustrations inspire wonder, careful examination and multiple reads. (Picture book. 2-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2014 |
| Flora and the Flamingo |
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Molly Idle
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Klutzy but endearing Flora (dumpily clad in swimsuit, bathing cap and flippers) and a dancing flamingo are the protagonists of this whimsical, wordless tale, which will have special appeal for budding ballerinas. Initially playing hard to get, then gradually warming to her overtures, the flamingo literally takes Flora under his wing and teaches her to dance. The story of the evolving camaraderie between this unlikely duo is told with humor and compassion through the use of a delicate flowing line and a limited, subtle color palette (mostly pink). The occasional simple rectangular fold-down flap cleverly allows each character to reveal a quirky new gesture or change of mood when the story demands. Illustrator Idle's prior experience as a DreamWorks animator is evident in the flowing, musical quality of the illustrations; one can almost hear the 3/4 beat of a waltz in the background. The seamless grace of the flamingo's dance contrasts humorously with Flora's faltering steps, but by the end of the story, they swoop, plunge and soar together like old ballet partners. Courageous use of white space--several pages contain a solitary waterlily--and a confident animated style are used to good effect in this sweet story of a young girl and her unlikely mentor. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781452110066 In this unique wordless picture book, a little girl mimics a flamingo's movements. The bird, at first annoyed, eventually relents and teaches her ballet. The book is cinematic, comedic, and balletic, with dynamic pacing facilitated by ingenious flaps. Spare illustrations in tutu-pink with pops of yellow allow the characters' chemistry--and the physical comedy--to take center stage. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2014 |
| Mr. Wuffles! |
David Wiesner
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A house cat pooh-poohs most proffered toys and gets his comeuppance tangling with a tiny alien spacecraft and its penny-sized adventurers. Peppered with speech bubbles in English, alien- or insect-speak, Wiesner's multipaneled tour de force treats the green ETs to maximum upheaval. Their initial celebration at landing turns to mayhem as their craft is buffeted by Mr. Wuffles. The aliens assess a smoldering engine part and disembark for help. The ensuing comic interplay pits cat against aliens as the tiny ones flee beneath a radiator cover. A ladybug and several ants assist them, and the repair's successfully made by harvesting cross sections of detritus: pencil eraser, MM, marble and metal screw. The insects have decorated the wall of their lair with drawings la Lascaux, the menacing Mr. Wuffles depicted prominently. After sketching a game plan, with insects playing transport and diversionary roles, the crew escapes back to the ship. Against oak floorboards and wallpaper prettily conveyed in ink and watercolor, the now-crazed Mr. Wuffles is riveted to the radiator, perplexing his human. Final panels show the cat gazing out the window, claws fruitlessly deployed; ants draw new scenes on their wall. Wiesner truly "gets" cats: An end-flap photo shows that the artist's "model" for the beleaguered Mr. Wuffles is indeed a household denizen. Expertly imagined, composed, drawn and colored, this is Wiesner at his best. (Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780618756612 Cat Mr. Wuffles toys with a tiny spaceship. Inside, the little green creatures regroup. Helped by a ladybug, they flee to the space under a radiator, which harbors a thriving insect civilization. Friendship ensues, food and technology are shared, repairs are made, and the cat is foiled. This exemplary almost-wordless book incorporates the delights of Borrowers-style innovations, quintessential cat behavior, and Wiesner's exquisite art. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2013 |
| This Is Not My Hat |
Jon Klassen
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Klassen combines spare text and art to deliver no small measure of laughs in another darkly comic haberdashery whodunit. While not a sequel to I Want My Hat Back (2011), the story does include a hat, a thief (a little fish) and a wronged party (a big fish). This time, first-person narration follows the thief, whose ego far outstrips his size as he underestimates the big fish's tracking abilities. Meanwhile, much of the art follows the big fish on his hunt, creating a pleasing counterpoint with the text. For example, a page reading "he probably won't notice that it's gone" shows not the thieving piscine narrator but the big fish looking up toward the top of his own bare head; he clearly has noticed that his hat is gone, and the chase is on! Sublime book design exploits the landscape format, with dogged movement from left to right across the double-page spreads. This culminates in a page reading "I knew I was going to make it," as the little fish disappears on the recto into plants evocative of Leo Lionni's setting in Swimmy (1963), while a narrow-eyed big fish enters the verso. The little fish is clearly doomed--a fact coyly confirmed by wordless page turns revealing the big fish swimming away, now from right to left, hat firmly on head. Hats off! (Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2012 |
| A Ball for Daisy |
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Chris Raschka
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780375858611 In this wordless story, dog Daisy and her little-girl owner play catch. All goes well until another dog, joining in play, pops Daisy's big red ball. Raschka communicates so much through Daisy's posture, varying the line to echo her emotions. Background washes also reflect Daisy's mood, from bright yellows to somber browns. A satisfying story noteworthy both for its artistry and child appeal. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| 2011 |
| A Sick Day for Amos McGee |
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Philip C. Stead
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781250171108 This board-book edition of the 2011 Caldecott Awardwinner is a sturdier alternative to the original picture book--even if it's not really a board-book story. Kindly zookeeper Amos McGee plays chess with the elephant, reads to the owl, etc. When Amos stays home one day, his friends have just the right medicine: they make time to visit their pal. The detailed pencil and woodblock illustrations enhance the gentle text's cozy mood. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781596434028 Every day kindly zookeeper Amos McGee plays chess with the elephant, keeps the penguin company, reads stories to the owl, etc. When Amos stays home one day, his friends have just the right medicine: they make time to visit their good friend. The attentively detailed pencil and woodblock illustrations reveal character and enhance the cozy mood of the gentle text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
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| 2010 |
| The Lion the Mouse |
Jerry Pinkney
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A nearly wordless exploration of Aesop's fable of symbiotic mercy that is nothing short of masterful. A mouse, narrowly escaping an owl at dawn, skitters up what prove to be a male lion's tail and back. Lion releases Mouse in a moment of bemused gentility andwhen subsequently ensnared in a poacher's rope trapreaps the benefit thereof. Pinkney successfully blends anthropomorphism and realism, depicting Lion's massive paws and Mouse's pink inner ears along with expressions encompassing the quizzical, hapless and nearly smiling. He plays, too, with perspective, alternating foreground views of Mouse amid tall grasses with layered panoramas of the Serengeti plain and its multitudinous wildlife. Mouse, befitting her courage, is often depicted heroically large relative to Lion. Spreads in watercolor and pencil employ a palette of glowing amber, mouse-brown and blue-green. Artist-rendered display type ranges from a protracted "RRROAARRRRRRRRR" to nine petite squeaks from as many mouselings. If the five cubs in the back endpapers are a surprise, the mouse family of ten, perched on the ridge of father lion's back, is sheer delight. Unimpeachable. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2009 |
| The House in the Night |
Susan Marie Swansonk
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Inspired by a traditional poem from The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book, Swanson's cumulative tale begins, "Here is the key to the house." Readers are welcomed inside the house, where they find a light, a bed within the light, a book on that bed and a bird inside that book. The book opens to reveal a bird that sings a song about the dark, and within that song are the moon and the sun shining on the moon's face. And then, from deep in the night, the poem begins to climb back out of itself: "Sun in the moon, / moon in dark, / dark in the song, / song in the bird," and so forth, finally arriving back to "the house in the night" which is, indeed, a "home full of light." Krommes's breathtaking scratchboard illustrations, in black and white with accents of yellow and gold, embody and enhance the text's message that light and dark, like comfort and mystery, are not mutually exclusive, but integral parts of each other. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780618862443 Here is the key to the house. In the house burns a light." So begins a soothing bedtime verse that ends with a child tucked in bed, bathed by the light of the moon. The quiet patterned text is accompanied by dramatic black-and-white scratchboard illustrations with just enough gold touches to fill the pages with gentle light. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
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| 2008 |
| The Invention of Hugo Cabret |
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Brian Selznick
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. From Selznick's ever-generative mind comes a uniquely inventive story told in text, sequential art and period photographs and film. Orphaned Hugo survives secretly in a Parisian train station (circa 1930). Obsessed with reconstructing a broken automaton, Hugo is convinced that it will write a message from his father that will save his life. Caught stealing small mechanical repair parts from the station's toy shop, Hugo's life intersects with the elderly shop owner and his goddaughter, Isabelle. The children are drawn together in solving the linked mysteries of the automaton and the identity of the artist, illusionist and pioneer filmmaker, Georges Mli's, long believed dead. Discovering that Isabelle's godfather is Mli's, the two resurrect his films, his reputation and assure Hugo's future. Opening with cinematic immediacy, a series of drawings immerses readers in Hugo's mysterious world. Exquisitely chosen art sequences are sometimes stopped moments, sometimes moments of intense action and emotion. The book, an homage to early filmmakers as dreammakers, is elegantly designed to resemble the flickering experience of silent film melodramas. Fade to black and cue the applause! (notes, film credits) (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780439813785 Over a sequence of twenty-one double-page wordless, illustrated spreads, a story begins. The tale that follows is a lively one, involving the dogged Hugo, his ally Isabelle, an automaton that can draw pictures, and a stage magician turned filmmaker. The interplay between the illustrations and text is complete genius, and themes of secrets, dreams, and invention play lightly but resonantly throughout. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. |
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| 2007 |
| Flotsam |
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David Wiesner
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. From arguably the most inventive and cerebral visual storyteller in children's literature, comes a wordless invitation to drift with the tide, with the story, with your eyes, with your imagination. A boy at the beach picks up a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera. He develops the film, which produces, first, pictures of a surreal undersea world filled with extraordinary details (i.e., giant starfish bestride the sea carrying mountainous islands on their backs), and then a portrait of a girl holding a picture of a boy holding a picture of another boy . . . and so on . . . and on. Finally, the boy needs a microscope to reveal portraits of children going back in time to a sepia portrait of a turn-of-the-century lad in knickers. The boy adds his own self-portrait to the others, casts the camera back into the waves, and it is carried by a sea creature back to its fantastic depths to be returned as flotsam for another child to find. In Wiesner's much-honored style, the paintings are cinematic, coolly restrained and deliberate, beguiling in their sibylline images and limned with symbolic allusions. An invitation not to be resisted. (Picture book. 6-11) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2006 |
| The Hello, Goodbye Window |
Norton Juster
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. On the title page, a little girl springs away from her parents; turn the page, and the reader sees only her arms on the gate, the reader taking her perspective as she looks over to the white clapboard house where her Nanna and Poppy's faces stare equally eagerly out of the Hello, Goodbye Window. The exuberant tot proceeds to spend a thoroughly idyllic overnight with her loving grandparents, the stay punctuated by a harmonica serenade, a bike ride ("Not in the street, please") and a nap. Juster adopts the voice of the child, whose present-tense narration is just right, describing pleasures (saying good night to the stars) and perils (the tiger at the back of the garden) with a steady, sweet candor. Raschka's mixed-media illustrations are characteristically loose and energetic, depicting this happy, biracial family with jewel tones and extravagant swirls. As the little girl unwinds at the end of the stay, she imagines the many possible visitors who might come to the Hello, Goodbye Window—but no one is more happily welcomed than her parents, who pick her up after her picture-perfect day. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780786809141 In Juster's paean to loving grandparents, the young narrator relates the comforting routines she shares with her grandparents when she visits. The familial love that is Juster's subtext finds overt expression, spectacularly, in Raschka's lush mixed-media illustrations set off perfectly by white space. A varied layout, balancing exterior and interior landscapes with smaller character vignettes, helps sustain the book's energy. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. |
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| 2005 |
| Kittens First Full Moon |
Kevin Henkes
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780060588298 The black-and-white forms in this sweet story about a kitten who thinks the full moon is a bowl of milk are larger and more solid-looking than Henkes's usual work. The kitten, whose white fur glows against the charcoal-gray sky, is sprightly and expressive as she fails repeatedly (""Poor Kitten!"") to get at that milk. The rhymthic, action-oriented text is just right for small children. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. In a surprisingly new guise, Henkes turns his hand for his 34th book to a retro look, with rough-hewn, black-and-white illustrations that pair perfectly with this deceptively simply story. When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it. The coarse but masterfully controlled line with heavy black outlines contains vigor and exuberance, creating a spontaneous feeling. A keen sense of design uses double spreads and panels to depict the action and Kitten's puzzlement. Some spreads are almost all white space with dark shadows outlining Kitten and the moon. The style is reminiscent of Clare Newberry (Marshmallow, April's Kittens) without soft, fuzzy shapes, but artful in its gracelessness and naïvetÉ, just like a kitten. Simply charming. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780062417107 This is a successful board-book edition of Henkes's Caldecott Awardwinning story about a kitten who thinks the full moon is a bowl of milk. The smaller trim size doesn't lessen the illustrations' impact: Kitten is sprightly and expressive as she fails repeatedly ("Poor Kitten!") to get at that milk. The rhymthic, action-oriented (and unabridged) text is just right for small children. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. In a surprisingly new guise, Henkes turns his hand for his 34th book to a retro look, with rough-hewn, black-and-white illustrations that pair perfectly with this deceptively simply story. When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it. The coarse but masterfully controlled line with heavy black outlines contains vigor and exuberance, creating a spontaneous feeling. A keen sense of design uses double spreads and panels to depict the action and Kitten's puzzlement. Some spreads are almost all white space with dark shadows outlining Kitten and the moon. The style is reminiscent of Clare Newberry (Marshmallow, April's Kittens) without soft, fuzzy shapes, but artful in its gracelessness and naïvetÉ, just like a kitten. Simply charming. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2004 |
| The Man Who Walked Between the Towers |
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Mordicai Gerstein
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780761328681 Is this another September 11 book? No--and yes. In 1974, Philippe Petit, the French street performer and high-wire walker, couldn't resist the temptation to dance between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Gerstein pulls the reader into the story with a conversational style extended by playful pen and paint illustrations. Like Petit, Gerstein conceals much careful planning behind an obvious enjoyment of his subject. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A spare recounting of Philippe Petit's daring 1974 wire walk between the Twin Towers depicts him as a street performer who defies authority to risk his feat, is arrested, and then sentenced to perform for the children of New York. At the conclusion, on the only non-illustrated page are the stark words, "Now the towers are gone," followed by the changed skyline and finally by a skyline on which are etched the ghost-like shapes of the towers as memory of the buildings and of Petit's exploit. At the heart are the spreads of Petit on the narrow wire, so far above the city that Earth's curve is visible. Two ingenious gatefolds draw readers' eyes into the vertiginous sweep of wirewalker—sky and city below. Unparalleled use of perspective and line—architectural verticals opposed to the curve of wires and earth—underscore disequilibrium and freedom. In a story that's all about balance, the illustrations display it exquisitely in composition. Readers of all ages will return to this again and again for its history, adventure, humor, and breathtaking homage to extraordinary buildings and a remarkable man. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. A spare recounting of Philippe Petit's daring 1974 wire walk between the Twin Towers depicts him as a street performer who defies authority to risk his feat, is arrested, and then sentenced to perform for the children of New York. At the conclusion, on the only non-illustrated page are the stark words, "Now the towers are gone," followed by the changed skyline and finally by a skyline on which are etched the ghost-like shapes of the towers as memory of the buildings and of Petit's exploit. At the heart are the spreads of Petit on the narrow wire, so far above the city that Earth's curve is visible. Two ingenious gatefolds draw readers' eyes into the vertiginous sweep of wirewalker—sky and city below. Unparalleled use of perspective and line—architectural verticals opposed to the curve of wires and earth—underscore disequilibrium and freedom. In a story that's all about balance, the illustrations display it exquisitely in composition. Readers of all ages will return to this again and again for its history, adventure, humor, and breathtaking homage to extraordinary buildings and a remarkable man. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
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| 2003 |
| My Friend Rabbit |
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Eric Rohmann
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780761324201 When narrator Mouse?s well-meaning but trouble-prone friend Rabbit gets Mouse?s airplane stuck in a tree, his solution (a precarious tower of reluctant animals that almost reaches the airplane) causes even more problems. The book is visually exciting--Rohmann?s hand-colored relief prints make fresh and innovative use of picture book space--and broadly humorous. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9780761324201 Best known for fluid, superbly realistic oil paintings, Rohmann (Prairie Train, 1999, etc) switches to thick-lined colored woodcuts and a simpler pictorial style for this nearly wordless, engagingly wacky episode. After carelessly throwing little Mouse's airplane up into a tree, Rabbit finds a unique way to reach it. ("Not to worry, Mouse. I've got an idea!") Industrious, if not too practical, he drags in a reluctant bear, a crocodile, a purple hippo, and other animals, then stacks them atop a wobbly-legged elephant. Great is the inevitable fall thereof, but Mouse and airplane are reunited, and Mouse, being a true friend, swoops down to rescue Rabbit from the now-annoyed menagerie. Rohmann uses wordless, and sometimes even empty, frames to great comic effect, allowing huge animals to make sudden entrances from the side-or from above, and artfully capturing the expressions on their faces. Young readers and pre-readers will chortle at the silliness of it all while enjoying the sometimes-demanding friendship between these disparately sized chums. (Picture book. 4-7) |
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| 2002 |
| The Three Pigs |
David Wiesner
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9780618007011 With this inventive retelling, Caldecott Medalist Wiesner (Tuesday, 1991) plays with literary conventions in a manner not seen since Scieszka?s The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1993). The story begins with a traditional approach in both language and illustrations, but when the wolf huffs and puffs, he not only blows down the pigs? wood and straw houses, but also blows the pigs right out of the story and into a parallel story structure. The three pigs (illustrated in their new world in a more three-dimensional style and with speech balloons) take off on a postmodern adventure via a paper airplane folded from the discarded pages of the traditional tale. They sail through several spreads of white space and crash-land in a surreal world of picture-book pages, where they befriend the cat from ?Hey, Diddle Diddle? and a charming dragon that needs to escape with his cherished golden rose from a pursuing prince. The pigs, cat, and dragon pick up the pages of the original story and return to that flat, conventional world, concluding with a satisfying bowl of dragon-breath-broiled soup in their safe, sturdy brick house. The pigs have braved the new world and returned with their treasure: the cat for company and fiddle music, the dragon?s golden rose for beauty, and the dragon himself for warmth and protection from the wolf, who is glimpsed through the window, sitting powerlessly in the distance. On the last few pages, the final words of the text break apart, sending letters drifting down into the illustrations to show us that once we have ventured out into the wider world, our stories never stay the same. (Picture book. 5-9) Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780618007011 In this postmodern interpretation, the style of the artwork shifts back and forth a few times, as Wiesner explores different realities within a book's pages. The story begins by following the familiar pattern, but the art and dialogue balloons tell another tale: the pigs actually step out of the panel illustrations without being eaten and the perplexed wolf remains behind. There's a lot going on here, but once you get your bearings, this is a fantastic journey told with a light touch. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. |
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| 2001 |
| So You Want to be President |
David Small
Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Just in time for the presidential election, St. George (In the Line of Fire: Presidents Lives at Stake, 1999, etc.) uses the experiences of our 42 presidents to counsel youngsters harboring that uniquely American desire—to be president. Reflecting on the "good things about being President and . . . bad things about being President . . ." she offers a pleasingly diverse slate of facts and figures for her readers' consideration: age (the oldest—Reagan; the youngest—Teddy Roosevelt), size (the smallest—Madison—at 100 lbs., contrasting with Taft, at over 300), career choices (generals, lawyers, haberdashers, farmers), first names (six Jameses, four Johns, four Williams, two Georges, two Franklins), education (nine presidents never went to college, while one—Andrew Johnson—"didn't learn to write until after he was married"). At the close of this sometimes wry, sometimes sober survey (including impeachments, wars, and assassinations), St. George encourages: "If you want to be president—a good president—pattern yourself after the best . . . [those who] have asked more of themselves than they thought they could give . . . They [who] have had the courage, spirit, and will to do . . . [what's] right." Small's (The Huckabuck Family, 1999, etc.) pitch-perfect caricatures, rendered in a mix of watercolor, ink, and pastel, expand on the personalities and support the narrative's shifting moods. There's a helpful key to every illustration and a presidential chronology from Washington to Clinton. Even a few "non-presidents" are featured: Pat Nixon and Henry Kissinger watch (with future President Ford) President Nixon bowl in the White House lanes, and there's a wonderfully wry glimpse of two "also-ran's"—Jesse Jackson and Geraldine Ferraro—excluded from an across-the-centuries presidential reception by a velvet rope. A superb, kid-centered survey and a perfect way to enliven the perennial class unit on the presidents. (Nonfiction. 7-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780399234071 The presidential faces on Mount Rushmore are depicted in a jovial cartoon style on the cover--an encouraging invitation to the witty observations within. Arranging historical tidbits in an attractive buffet, this well-timed book offers anecdotes both cautionary and guaranteed to attract attention and arouse interest. Appended are brief biographical sketches of the presidents and a short bibliography. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. |
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| 2000 |
| Joseph Had a Little Overcoat |
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Simms Taback
Horn Book (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780670878550 In this newly illustrated adaptation of a Yiddish folk song, die-cuts help tell the story of resourceful Joseph, a farmer/tailor, who recycles his worn overcoat into ever-smaller items. A mixture of painting and collage create a somewhat surreal but delightful effect; details in the art make this a pageant of pre-WWII Jewish-Polish life. Clever, humorous, visually engrossing, poignant, this tribute to a vanished way of life is worth holding on to. Reviewed by: mvp (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved. |
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