Review by New York Times Review
A boy and his dog head to the moon, a crab bakes cakes, a cat foils a bakery break-in: These books send imaginations soaring. ONE IS A PIÑATA Written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong. Illustrated by John Parra. Thong and Parra have explored shapes ("Round Is a Tortilla") and colors ("Green Is a Chile Pepper") with adorable bilingual flair, and this take on the numbers one to 10 is just as appealing. Each object is named in Spanish, with surrounding text in English ("six flavored aguas to quench our thirst"), while Parra's folk-art illustrations give visual clues to scenes from Latino life. Each friendly page beckons - to find stuff to count, or just to imagine lying on the beach under one of the five palapas. 32 pp. Chronicle. $16.99. (Ages 3 to 5) THERE ARE NO BEARS IN THIS BAKERY Written and illustrated by Julia SarconeRoach. A protective tabby named Muffin, a shop called Little Bear Bakery, a nighttime intruder. Is it a giant mouse? Or... a baby bear, helping herself to the goodies? Muffin is on the case. Sarcone-Roach ("The Bear Ate Your Sandwich") draws her audience in with I'm-the-boss cat humor and expressive mixed-media art in shades of blue and orange, perfectly capturing moods ranging from a terrified kitty ("I was smooshed, like a muffin between the couch cushions") to a satisfying bear hug. This delightful caper calls out for multiple readings. 32 pp. Knopf. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) TEN RULES OF THE BIRTHDAY WISH Written by Beth Ferry. Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. Admit it, that annual wish you make before blowing out the candles is a huge deal. This antic step-by-step guide at first plays it for laughs, pulling in dinosaurs, rhinos, penguins and many more creatures to sow amusing chaos. Dogs howl the birthday song off-key, and puffer fish are warned not to take a big breath. But the always vibrant Lichtenheld and Ferry turn sweetly serious for the moment we've been waiting for, with a gentle reminder: "Don't forget that wish ends in 'shhhhhh.' " 40 pp. Putnam. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) GOOD BOY Written and illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier. This latest from Ruzzier (the Fox & Chick books) has just one or two words per page. But with lovely art that turns effortlessly surreal, that's all it takes to tell a clever, comical story of a truly mutual relationship. A boy and his dog, whose coat is the same shade of yellow as the boy's hair, practice canine training commands like "Sit" and "Jump" that soon morph into wondrous feats like "Cook." Before you know it, the devoted pair are off on an outer-space adventure. 40 pp. Atheneum. $15.99. (Ages 4 to 8) WHAT IS GIVEN FROM THE HEART Written by Patricia C. McKissack. Illustrated by April Harrison. In this exquisite story of generosity from the beloved McKissack, who died in 2017, a little boy named James Otis and his mama have fallen on hard times after his father's death. But they keep their spirits up, focusing on a request by their minister to add to a "love box" for a family that lost everything in a fire. Harrison has created soft yet dazzling illustrations for this tribute to faith, hope and the African-American community 32 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) THE NEIGHBORS Written and illustrated by Einat Tsarfati. Translated by Annette Appel. All apartment buildings contain tantalizing mysteries, and the red-haired girl who narrates this zany treat tells what's behind each door in hers: a tiger, a vampire, a family that "celebrates someone's birthday at least once a week." Tsarfati ("An After Bedtime Story") balances visual extravagance with sneaky insight into how kids think of home. 40 pp. Abrams. $16.99. (Ages 4 to 8) CRAB CAKE Written and illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi. The sea creatures who populate Tsurumi's underwater idyll live harmoniously, yet each does its own thing, including Crab, who bakes cakes. But when someone dumps trash into their home, the psychedelic colors darken. What to do? The eco-friendly lesson goes down easy as "everybody comes together," pitching in to haul the trash away, with another cake from Crab waiting at the end. 40 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) CICADA Written and illustrated by Shaun Tan. Like all Tan's genre-defying books, this one vibrates with profound questions about how we choose to live and how we treat one another. A gray-suited cicada is an office drone, insulted and underpaid by the humans; he lives in an office wall space. After 17 years, he's shown the door. Despondent, he seems about to jump from the roof, but instead sheds the suit and becomes dozens of bright red insects, flying away to freedom. 32 pp. Arthur A. Levine. $19.99. (Ages 12 and up) MARIA RUSSO is the children's books editor of the Book Review.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 30, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* A redheaded girl with a frog umbrella lives on the seventh floor of an apartment building. As she makes her way upstairs, she imagines who lives in each unit, based on clues surrounding the doors she passes. For example, the first door has so many locks because it belongs to thieves specializing in ancient Egyptian artifacts. The light shuts off by the fourth floor's apartment door because of the fashionista vampire living there. And there could clearly be no other explanation for another door's pickled fish scent other than that a pirate and mermaid live underwater inside. This book is one delightful, imaginative reveal after another, ending with a fabulous double-twist chuckle. The text is simple and elegant, supported by absolutely charming images, and it's icing on the cake that the illustrations are so internationally inclusive (the protagonist's bedroom, for example, contains a Native American dream catcher, a Russian matryoshka doll, a Chinese lantern, an African totem, and a Japanese den den drum hidden among the dinosaurs and space posters). While a portion of the magic may be lost in a classroom or library group read, it would be an absorbing lap or solo read because each room is depicted in such detail. The pages warrant long, wondrous examinations and afford readers almost endless satisfaction in the tiny discoveries awaiting them.--Becca Worthington Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The girl with the bright-green frog umbrella who narrates this tightly focused story has invented tales about her building's residents based on the distinctive appearance of their doors. The first has several locks and a surveillance camera. "That apartment belongs to a family of thieves," the girl announces; the apartment, revealed in a page turn, contains a symphony of luxurious museum pieces, and the family is dressed all in black, with face masks. The door on floor two is "always surrounded by muddy footprints." A gardener? No. "That is the home of an old explorer and his pet tiger." Each family enterprise is more unlikely than the next, and the spreads burst with appropriate domestic detritus; a vampire seamster's apartment (floor four) is littered with notions and art deco furniture. The girl's own apartment, by contrast, has ordinary furniture and an ordinary set of parents. Or does it? Tsarfati (An After Bedtime Story) offers accomplished execution, sureness of line, and restrained, urbane humor. Her story celebrates both imaginative power and the way great imaginations sometimes miss what's closest to them. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-A young girl lives in an apartment building full of interesting characters, or so she thinks. From a family of thieves and a jungle explorer to a family of acrobats and a sewing vampire, the building is teeming with life. Each floor has a separate apartment with a unique door that sets it apart. The young girl lives on the seventh floor, her plain gray door marked with a simple plant and welcome mat. She thinks her parents are boring, but she is unaware of what they do once she falls asleep. The surprise ending in this zany and imaginative picture book is sure to have young readers going back to reread and look for clues. Each page is an attention grabber because of the vibrant colors and elaborate illustrations. The eccentricities of the cast of characters are compelling and readers will linger on each scene to absorb each intricate detail. The main character's vivid imagination is brilliantly reflected in the bold manner in which the illustrations are presented. The stark white pages that show each apartment's entry are a sharp contrast to the imagery of each dwelling's interior, again highlighting the power of imagination. VERDICT A unique and vibrant choice that artfully displays the dynamism of the imagination.-Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An inquisitive child speculates about the neighbors' lives in this lively outing, translated from Hebrew.The first spread depicts a child narrator (coded in cartoon-style, digital illustrations as feminine with long, red hair in a ponytail) approaching a building. The accompanying text reads, "I live in a building that is seven stories high," and a page turn shows her going inside on the verso. The facing recto depicts seven variously styled mailboxes that correspond with the front doors of each apartment she'll pass while walking upstairs and bolsters her assertion that each door is "slightly different." Those differences are, in fact, great: They're all different colors; some are ornately decorated, while others are plain; and each has a clue that inspires the child to imagine the apartment's inhabitants. It's never confirmed whether her visions of neighbors as masked thieves, an explorer, acrobats, a vampire, a pirate and his mermaid spouse, or musicians (this last spread is the only one to, thus far, clearly depict people of color) are imaginary or are part of a fantastic reality. When her mother (who shares her paper-white coloring) and father (who appears Asian) put her to bed, readers may note that her bedroom is filled with details corresponding with her visons of her neighbors. So maybe she was just imagining them? But then a closing spread undermines her earlier statement about her "boring" parents by depicting them as superheroes. This fantastic twist reintroduces the possibility that anyone might reside behind the neighbors' doors, after all.Delightfully ambiguous and recursive. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
