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THE LION AND THE BIRD

Name: THE LION AND THE BIRD
Author: Marianne Dubuc
ISBN: 978-1-59270-151-3

by Marianne Dubuc ; illustrated by Marianne Dubuc ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2014

A sensitive, uplifting meditation.

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Canadian artist Dubuc delivers a quiet story that knits together themes of friendship and the circle of seasons.

Working in his autumn garden, Lion hears a sound. An injured bird falls to the ground as its flock flies south. Lion nurses the bird to health, and the pair winters together in Lion’s firelit cottage. “It snows and snows. / But winter doesn’t feel all that cold with a friend.” Spring returns, with flowers, garden sprouts and yes—a V-shaped flock. In a poignant scene, the now-healed bird gestures upward. “ ‘Yes,’ says Lion. ‘I know.’ ” Lonely, Lion consoles himself with summer pursuits: tending the ripening garden, reading, fishing. When autumn arrives with a fallen leaf, Lion, looking skyward, wonders, “And how about you?” Dubuc’s pictures have a charming, naïve appeal. Against muted washes of brown, blue and green, colored pencils delineate Lion’s home and garden in simple, rounded shapes. Lion’s accommodations for his tiny guest will conjure smiles: The bird sleeps in a slipper and relaxes in a little box by the fire. For winter fun, the two toboggan and ice fish, the bird peeking out from inside Lion’s balaclava. Dubuc excels at capturing emotions visually. The angle of Lion’s posture, with a single nuanced line for his mouth, evinces joy or sadness. White space—sometimes whole pages—speaks its own language of loss and hope.

A sensitive, uplifting meditation. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: May 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-59270-151-3

Page Count: 72

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYONE GETS A TURN
by Marianne Dubuc ; illustrated by Marianne Dubuc

- BOOK REVIEW
ON BABA'S BACK
by Marianne Dubuc ; illustrated by Marianne Dubuc

- BOOK REVIEW
1, 2, 3, OFF TO SCHOOL!
by Marianne Dubuc ; illustrated by Marianne Dubuc ; translated by Yvette Ghione

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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BUDDY'S NEW BUDDY

From the Growing With Buddy series , Vol. 3

by Christina Geist ; illustrated by Tim Bowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2022

Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient.

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How do you make a new friend when an old one moves away?

Buddy (from Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can’t Go to School, 2019, etc.) is feeling lonely. His best friend just moved across town. To make matters worse, there is a field trip coming up, and Buddy needs a bus partner. His sister, Lady, has some helpful advice for making a new pal: “You just need to find something you have in common.” Buddy loves the game Robo Chargers and karate. Surely there is someone else who does, too! Unfortunately, there isn’t. However, when a new student arrives (one day later) and asks everyone to call her Sunny instead of Alison, Buddy gets excited. No one uses his given name, either; they just call him Buddy. He secretly whispers his “real, official name” to Sunny at lunch—an indication that a true friendship is being formed. The rest of the story plods merrily along, all pieces falling exactly into place (she even likes Robo Chargers!), accompanied by Bowers’ digital art, a mix of spot art and full-bleed illustrations. Friendship-building can be an emotionally charged event in a child’s life—young readers will certainly see themselves in Buddy’s plight—but, alas, there is not much storytelling magic to be found. Buddy and his family are White, Sunny and Mr. Teacher are Black, and Buddy’s other classmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient. (Picture book. 4-7)