jelly
This book could have been a great way for kids to learn the different days of the week and some colors, but there were too many wrong messages in the books to even consider recommending it.
The day the wolf decides to wear pink, he looks at himself in the mirror and realizes with utter disgust that he looks like a princess. This is unacceptable! It is saying that looking like a women is ugly and horrible! Then, the next day, he covered himself in brown mud and hates looking all brown. Finally, he decides to hurt a peacock by removing all of his features to look handsome. And then something really weird happens... There are so many female wolves walking around him -because of how beautiful he has become- that he decides to finally accept his natural color.
What is even this book? So many toxic gender stereotypes and wrong ways to teach kids to love themselves the way they are.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-23
After loving so much their previous book Duck and ranking as one of my favorite picture books of this year, I feel very disappointed by Horsefly and Honeybee. This one is the story of two baby bugs who learn to cooperate together after a big nasty fight. Even if the book ends on a positive note, I feel like there were too many violent moments and that the cooperation happened in such a tragic and dead-end moment that it was not exactly learned the proper way. I feel hopeless for those two bugs, knowing what will happen to them after the book ends.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-23
The illustrations were extremely bright and colorful, which I loved, but the song was not well written. On several pages, it was just extremely hard to sing the words, because there were just too many syllables compared to the original song, and it simply didn't work. I feel like this could have been easily replaced by the author.
For example: “The monkeys on the bus go Chatter, chatter, chatter, Chatter, chatter, chatter, Chatter, chatter, chatter.”
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-23
What a romanticization of poverty and of the suffering of kids who grow up without enough food, schooling, clothes and blankets to keep them warm, or a stable place to grow roots. And I am not going to start with how creepy the illustrations are... Also, it is an appropriation of the story of Mennonites by a complete outsider.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-22
This is the great story of a witchy grandma possum who turns her grand-daughter invisible to protect her from the snakes. Until one day, baby possum would like to be visible again, to see what she looks like, and to feel the world in a different way. From there on, a wonderful story begins :)
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-22
Toriki the rabbit and Kouma the giraffe decide to exchange sizes to see how life feels that way. Soon enough, they realize that it might not have been the best idea... This book is great to teach kids about being happy with who you are and enjoying our specific strengths and characteristics. I gave it a two stars because the illustrations were strange and I didn't enjoy them.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-22
A boy receives an invitation to go to a party where he must bring a hat. His journey begins, but then becomes really weird as he can't find a single hat for sale in the city. Suddenly, he spots a monkey with a hat...
The boy pulled the monkey by the arm to “use” him for the party, without the monkey's consent. The boy also yelled at the person responsible for the invitation without apologizing afterwards. Some dancers have to remove their tutus and stay in underwear, in order for the elephant to wear a tutu. Things kept escalating...
In the end, the story left me speechless because of how bad it was.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-21
What a terrible book! Bear should not be forced to celebrate her birthday! She clearly says to Mouse what she wants to do (cleaning her house all day) and what she doesn't want to do (celebrating with a party, or receiving cakes and presents) and still, Mouse tries over and over again. I don't like that Mouse lies and pretends to be someone else to achieve what she wants. It's perfectly ok for Bear to enjoy chocolate cake, but it should not have been forced the way it has been. I would not recommend this book.
Read and reviewed 2018-10-21
Ruby is the new kid at school, and it is not really for her to become part of the group. She decides to copycat her friend, and then her teacher. Until one day, the teacher make everyone realize how uniquely talented Ruby is. A great story about integration and celebrating each other's skills.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-19
The illustrations are cool, but what a mean and unfinished story! Triangle plays a sneaky trick to square for nothing, just for fun, and he doesn't learn anything from it, except that square gets afraid and stuck too. The abrupt ending without resolution feels very disturbing. Who is going to help square?
I still need to mention that the reading experience was extremely pleasant: round edges, strong paperback cover and flowing pages in the middle.
Read and reviewed: 2018-10-19
