![]() To whisper, to shed light and to turn me upside downĪs soft music, she spoke through her picturesĪnd once I saw them, I adored her features Through adorable illustrations that exude humor and warmth, this portrait of intergenerational affection is also a tribute to life in Chinatown neighborhoods: Street vendors, a busker playing a Chinese violin, a dim sum restaurant, and more all combine to add a distinctive texture.Ī multilayered, endearing treasure of a day.She softly came into my life without her crown First-person text gives glimpses into May’s lively thoughts as they evolve through the day, and Gong Gong’s unchangingly jolly face reflects what could be mistaken for blithe obliviousness but is actually his way of showing love through sharing the people and places of his life. But although it seems like Gong Gong hasn’t been attentive so far, when May’s day finally comes to a head, it is clear that he has. It’s equally exasperating trying to communicate with Gong Gong in English, and by the time they join a card game in the park with Gong Gong’s friends, May is tired, hungry, and frustrated. At each stop, Cantonese words fly back and forth, many clearly pointed at May, who understands none of it. How can they have a good day together? As they stroll through an urban Chinatown, May’s perpetually sanguine maternal grandfather chats with friends and visits shops. Gong Gong doesn’t speak English, and May doesn’t know Chinese. Spending a day with Gong Gong doesn’t sound like very much fun to May. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species-woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren-as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.Ī good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. Likely to be a kiss for artists-in-training but a miss for others.Įchoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.Įach sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Bonilla’s choices are all over the map: Monica doesn’t like vegetables, most of which are green (she covers her mouth as if about to throw up in one picture), and the brown spread features chocolate, fall leaves, and dog poop. In each of the color-dedicated spreads, almost everything is pictured in the featured hue, sometimes even Monica herself. ![]() But while sweet, this answer may leave concrete-thinking readers without closure. The wordless response fills the final spread with rainbow-patterned and -colored hearts. In the end, Monica asks an expert: her mother. But there are good and bad things in each color: spaghetti-sauce red is the color of anger and people don’t give kisses when angry, and while her favorite cakes are pink, Monica does not like princesses or fairies (the black-haired white girl is dressed all in black and white). What color is a kiss? Subsequent double-page spreads consider the colors in turn: red, green, yellow, brown, white, pink, blue, and black/gray. She’s painted all sorts of things in all kinds of colors, but she’s never painted a kiss. Monica likes riding her bike, strawberry cake, and her mother’s stories, but what she loves is painting. A little girl who knows her mind when it comes to what she likes is stymied when she ponders the color of a kiss.
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