Slightly creepy, funny and fun.
A boy receives a stuffed animal that he really doesn’t like—and it’s not hard to see why.
Koala arrives in an exciting, striped gift box, but still, Adam pulls faces and insists, “I don’t like Koala.” His parents don’t understand, but readers will. Koala doesn’t look soft or friendly, and he’s alarmingly mouthless. When Adam wakes up in the morning, Koala’s tiny claws are pressing into Adam’s cheek. It’s too bad that Santoso uses strabismus (in which one eye’s focus doesn’t align with the other’s) to portray the cold, yellow stare of Koala’s “terrible eyes.” Hijacking strabismus, a real-life condition, to indicate danger or symbolize creepiness is a distinctly questionable choice. Otherwise, the tale is hilarious, especially Adam’s (unsuccessful) attempts to banish Koala. At bedtime, “Adam puts Koala away. Away is a lot of different places”—inside a saucepan, atop the fridge, behind a plant and in a purse. Like that fabled cat, Koala always comes back. Even an intentional abandonment trip—over hills, around rocks, among trees—doesn’t work. Meanwhile, clever artwork shows that Adam may not have traveled as far as he claims. Santoso’s sly pencil illustrations, colored digitally in a mostly blue, gray and brown palette, resemble animation with shading and texturizing lines. The end features a twist and a closing line worthy of Sandra Boynton’s But Not the Hippopotamus (1982).
Slightly creepy, funny and fun. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0068-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
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