jelly
I really enjoyed reading this book about a kid who struggles to go to sleep, until he realizes that it is not easy for his counting sheep either to fall asleep. From there, he will need to adopt a new perspective and be the one helping a sheet to feel calm and relax enough to go to bed. The illustrations were very colorful and pleasant to look at, with many adorable details that kept me enchanted.
The boy is counting the sheep, starting at #1. At one point, he is about to count sheep #68, but on the previous images, there are already sheep #991 or #103, which doesn't make any sense to me. In the same way, I don't understand why sheep #69 appeared in the end, as the little boy didn't call it out... This illogical aspect removed some of the fun I had reading this book, which is why I only gave it 3 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-11-01
This book was so hard to finish, it was just so bad. The first page starts pretty well, seeing a drop of water fall slowly with an umbrella, with this text: “If I were a raindrop, where would I fall? Would it be on a daffodil, a cat or a wall?”.
I was expecting to learn about the cycle of water, or how useful water is for people on Earth. But instead, it was a very scattered narration of a raindrop falling here and there, as explained: “From Heaven to Earth just as God planned. Nothing to do with the desires of man”, The book seems to be about enjoying this ‘gift', and that was pretty much it.
The book also portrays “the whole human race” as a bunch of young white persons only, and very weird depiction of a kid waiting for a drop to jump down his mouth, with this text: “Taste my sweetness, swallow my life and know that my trip was a pure delight”. In the end, it's a very creepy and weird book to read.
Thank you NetGalley and DUNN Publishing for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-11-01
It's great to have books that inspire kids to go to the museum, and prepare them to what it is, so that it is less scary for them. I was even more pleasant when I thought it was with people of colors! Finally! But then, I felt a little bit taken aback by the very-low quality of the illustrations and by the overall message of the book. Anna is bored, very very bored at the museum. She starts doing everything her mom told her not to do: climbing, touching, screaming... Her mom spends lots of time on her phone and is often far away from her, which doesn't help much... In the end, a kind museum guard allows her to explore a mysterious workshop, and there she has the biggest revelation! There's a painted grumpy girl, and she looks just like her! She then realized the magic of art, and how the inside world reflects the outside world. The ending is full of magic feelings, which makes it ends nicely and smoothly.
I still feel doubtful about the overall message of the book. I feel like for the kids reading this book, they will be able to relate to what they are not supposed to do, but then, they might not have access to the same kind of magical revelation, or see themselves in the art pieces, which will make it harder for them to live Anna's magical revelation. I wish this book could have spent more time exploring some dialogues between the mom and the daughter, to look at the art together, to explain the links between the “inside and the outside worlds”... This kind of book is needed, but I feel like this could have been done in a better way.
Thank you NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-11-01
What a brilliant, clear and necessary book! I absolutely loved that the authors talk about the Queer and Trans Identities, but also devote a few chapters on how to build a good relationship, and how to recognize red flags.
I really enjoyed the colorful illustrations, and the idea of including some adventures from The World of The Sproutlings to illustrate the journey of queer characters. I didn't really like the font used in this world, as it was sometimes hard to read it, but in the end I got used to it.
I need to mention that they included at the end of the book some cool bonuses: “Design a Friendship Jacket”, “Write a letter to your Dear Past or Future Self”, “Create your own Sprout-Sona”, and “How to make a mini zine”. Those were very nice additions to the book.
I feel like so much as been explained in a matter of a 100+ pages, and I can't wait to read their other book “A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns”. I would highly recommend it!
Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-31
A book about loving books... Of course I would be interested! I liked the art style and the humor of Debbie Tung, and it was fun to read so many situations that I can relate to. I read the book in one sitting, and even if I enjoyed it a lot, I felt like there was something missing. I felt like there were some repetitions of events, and I sometimes lost interest into it. I still loved that she captured so many unique situations in her 4-vignette template, as it was like reading tiny stories one after the other. Overall, it was a good read.
Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-31
Pride Colors is a wonderful book to teach kids about colors, while displaying photos of queer families and diverse children. The narration is very sweet, well written, and empowering. I feel like this book is a bubble of love, pride, and happiness. I was smiling while reading it :) I would highly recommend it to any family with children.
Thank you NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-30
When I first saw that this book was about learning colors in French, I was super excited! I am a native French speaker and it always interesting to see how languages are taught in different ways. What a chock and what a surprise when I opened this book.
1. - The illustrations only depict extremely skinny women as a fashion models. There's absolutely no diversity.
2. - The french-english translations are full of mistakes. “Multicolors” should be spelled “multicouleurs” in French (and not multi colour) ; “Polka Dots” should be “à pois” or “à pois Polka” (and not polka dots).
3. - The size of the English word versus the french word is just ridiculous. The English word is bold and easy to read, while the French word is tiny, in italic and in parenthesis. There is no way it can be used as a learning tool.
4 - On each specific color-page, there are many different colors, and the portrayed color is not always clear to me.
In the end, I feel like it is a book about displaying a very talented fashion designer's art, but not at all a learning book for kids.
Thank you NetGalley and Schiffer Kids for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-30
This is a wonderful book about Nina and her enormous love for watermelon. The illustrations are colorful, dynamic and full of adorable details. The narration is to the point and kept my interest high, as I was excited to turn the pages and see what would happen. I particularly enjoyed the educational model from the parents, which is the reason why I'm giving it 5 stars. When Nina insists to get something in particular, both parents listen carefully, then make a decision and stick to it. When something happens during night time, they allow Nina to feel safe and reassured, and then explain that they will talk about it the next morning. That was rare and that was great. Overall, it is a great story about learning to eat a little bit of everything, and not too much of one meal, because it simply feels better.
Thank you NetGalley and Editions Chouette for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-30
“Why is the flower flying away?” asked Inda. “So that it can grow again -just like the rest of us”, said the whale. “Some quicker, some slower, but all of us grow.”
This is the sweet story of Inda, who lives alone in a treehouse, and her new friend the flying whale. One day, they go on adventure together and explore what it is to be normal, what it is that we all have in common, what is feels like to feel lonely. I loved the way feelings and silences are presented, and how the illustrations convey a comfy and slightly surrealistic atmosphere. I loved their use of the white space, and the watercolor technique. I would recommend it :)
“Why are you so sad, my little friend?” He asked. “I'm right here. Sometimes, it's nice to share a silence. Sometimes, you can even loose sight of each other. But you're still close together-always!” Ida's loneliness flew far away.
Thank you NetGalley and North South Books Inc for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-30
I wish I could have loved this book, as it is so important to have more and more books featuring queer families. Instead, I was deeply disappointed by this book.
This book is all about the hetero-normative way of thinking of what a ‘women' does and what a ‘man' does, and applies it to a same-sex family. Straight people need to feel reassured by putting things into a box, with questions like: “which mom teaches you how to bike, which mom watches movies with you, which mom puts a bandage on you when you're hurt...“
This is not how kids behave!! Kids simply don't care about those questions! They may ask one of those questions, but not continuously for 24 pages! They would have changed topic a long time ago and would have simply played at the beach, like kids play at the beach and parents watch over them.
It feels like the perpetuation of “who is the masculine one in a lesbian couple”, “who does what”, and it is hurting, and utterly wrong.
~also, stop cutting women's heads on illustrations.
Thank you NetGalley and VanitaBooks, LLC for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-29
It could have been a great story, two siblings racing home with their bikes, but it became a story I would never read to kids. Zoé and Théo almost ran over chicken and rabbits as they raced, almost hurting them. That's not a good behavior to teach kids, and I'm shocked that the publisher chose it as the book cover.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-29
This is a wonderful story about following your passion and being brave enough to leave your family and explore your talent in a big new world. I absolutely loved the way different emotions were narrated: the fear of leaving and making your family sad, the fear of having been forgotten, the fear of making them angry, the longing for home, the uncertainty about going back, and in the end, the pride and joy of family reunion. Such a important story for kids, told in a beautiful way, and brilliantly illustrated.
Read and reviewed 2018-10-29
A story about a bear who absolutely loves honey, but who one day finds himself in front of thousands of bees on strike, asking for better living and working conditions. At first the bear doesn't want to listen to them, but soon realizes how sad his life has become without his adored honey... What will he do?
It was a sweet book about realizing that your own comfort depends on people's work too, and that it is important to care for others and help them have an easier life.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-26
The story was promising, but rapidly became a non-coherent mess.
- Penguins live in the Southern hemisphere, while polar bears live in the Arctic, in the Northern atmosphere. For a writer who praises himself to draw mainly penguins, that could have been fixed.
- I hate the final part of the book. A monkey from the jungle island decides to go on a journey with Penguin and his friends, in secret, and then is left to go back home flying with a kite in the middle of the night. Like what is even this story? The monkey will most likely never find his home again and crash in the ocean, and no one is helping him and caring about him! He is left alone to figure it out!
Read and reviewed 2018-10-26
I didn't know Gabriela Mistral, teacher and poet, before reading this bilingual biography. I think it was important to tell her story, but I didn't particularly enjoyed this book. I feel like the illustrations were very colorful, but that the facial expressions and the gestures were stiff and not always proportionally accurate.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-25
This is such a sweet story about a girl and her mom going grocery shopping for soup day, cooking together, playing together, and then waiting for the soup to be ready. It is a great book to learn about cooking and how to chop the ingredients. Warm colors, beautiful illustrations, pleasant narration.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-25
This is a difficult book. A small rabbit feels that his mom is unfair and doesn't let him do what he wants, especially letting him marry her. As we read the book, we discover that the mom stays in bed all day, forgets to do laundry, spends hours watching tv, and stays lethargic even when her kid goes away. She might suffer from clinical depression. The book revolves around the anger and frustration of the baby bunny, and it's hard to know what to make of this book. Those topics deserve to be talked about, but I don't feel like this book did it well. I would not recommend it.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-25
I agree with the Caldecott committee, the illustrations on this book are innovative, elegant and an absolute pleasure to the eyes. The story was mostly good. The first part was enchanting, seeing this girl cover her city with yarn. But then...
Why does the writer have to introduce a bad male character? Can we have a great story without a bully? It would have been so much better to explore how the main character learns to live without yarn, or learn to feel content with what she has and what she has already made. I would cut the last third of this book, and it would make such a better tale.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-23
The title is misleading, but the story is wonderful. Billy can't sleep at night because he worries about many, many things. Until the day when his grandmother gives him some tiny dolls from her childhood...
I loved the illustrations and the way the story was told. It makes me want to read more books from Anthony Browne!
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-23
A dad and his daughter move from one place to another to an unknown destination. They travel on the roof of trains, finding jobs here and there. The girl meets a friend sometimes, but doesn't know where they are going.
The story feels unfinished. The dad and the daughter never talk to each other, which makes the unsettling situation even scarier to the girl. I also don't understand why they accept the two rabbits pets, knowing that they won't have money to feed them, or that by releasing them they will die in the wild. That was an extremely bad narrative choice. If it was meant to be symbolic, I don't get it either.
Overall, it's important to include the theme of immigration/refugees in children's books, but I feel like this one didn't do it well.
P.S.: I really didn't like the epilogue: “What do those of us who have safe comfortable lives owe to people who do not?”
Read: 2018-10-23