Review by New York Times Review
Employing a graphic style and mixed-media approach that's a real departure from the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" enterprise, which she illustrated, and previous books like "Tumble Bumble," Bond works with white space and dabs of collage to create portraits of animals locked in embrace. Rabbits are calmly intimate; a pride of lions, joyous; and bats serenely hug each other upside down. Minimalist text describes upstairs and downstairs hugs, inside and outside hugs until a "Brown Bear"-like finale displays the whole menagerie embracing at once. THE BIGGEST KISS By Joanna Walsh. Illustrated by Judi Abbot. 32 pp. Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster. $12.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 5) "Kisses on noses, kisses on toes-es. Sudden kisses when you least supposes" begins this delicious paean to parental affection. Walsh's genial rhymes and hypercute drawings by Abbot, a first-time illustrator, make this square-shaped picture book, first published in Britain, stand out from the Valentine pack. Spots of humor amid the syrup also help: "Some kisses are misses, they land on the ear or near" accompanies a frowning monkey speckled with lipstick marks. Some kisses, let's face it, are too sweet. PLANT A KISS By Amy Krause Rosenthal. Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. 40 pp. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $14.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 5) This very girly tale about a "Little Miss" who plants a kiss pairs the best-selling author Rosenthal ("Little Pea," "Duck! Rabbit!") and the award-winning illustrator Reynolds ("Ish," the Judy Moody series) for the first time, with great success. Splashes of sparkle adorn the pages as the seedling kiss causes "doubt" and a "pout" before it sprouts and spreads in a cheery wash of yellow and pink. Rosenthal's and Reynolds's straightforward and gently humorous sensibilities are well matched in this story about love beyond the boundaries of parent and child. And what child doesn't like a page sprinkled in gutter? ALL KINDS OF KISSES Written and illustrated by Nancy Tafuri. 32 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 5) Tafuri ("Goodnight My Duckling," "I Love You, Little One"), queen mother of warmly soothing animal bedtime stories, uses notably bright and vibrant watercolors to introduce very young readers to animal baby names and noises. Goat and puppy eyes are soft and dewy with love as mothers, children and siblings exchange displays of affection. "Have You Seen My Duckling?" fans will welcome a return visit from the little ones with their "peep kisses." LITTLE TREASURES Endearments From Around the World. By Jacqueline K. Ogburn. Illustrated by Chris Raschka. 32 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) A book to make any Montessori or multicultural parent happy! This fascinating introduction to global endearments shows children how American parents call their offspring "Pumpkin" and "Doodlebug," while the English prefer "Poppet" and "Ducky." No judgment here (though American children may scoff at the French "Little Cabbage" and "Flea"), just marvelous illustrations by the Caldecott winner Raschka and an inclusive look at expressions of love from Poland to Uganda. Little "Light of My Hearts" (Arabic) and "Little Fatties" (Chile) will relish the experience. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [February 5, 2012]
Review by Booklist Review
Children must wonder why adults say some of the curious things that they do for instance, the phrase planting a kiss. Here, in charming, minimalist fashion, Rosenthal imagines a literal interpretation of the trope, spinning it out to a whimsical yet weighty conclusion. A young girl, known in the rhyming text as Little Miss, plants a kiss in the ground. After careful tending, a delicately sparkling sprout grows, and the girl decides to share her wondrous harvest with the world, diligently traveling to the farthest corners to do so. What is being shared exactly is left open to interpretation, but Reynolds' winsome, small-scale illustrations a perfect vehicle for this conceptual story feature flourishes of yellow glitter that will help young children connect to the metaphorical aspect of the tale. A fine starting point for discussions about kindness, generosity, and how every person has the potential to affect big change. Not bad for a book that starts with one little kiss.--McKulski, Kristen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In what may be a first, Rosenthal and Reynolds demonstrate the benefits of sharing kisses far and wide-without showing a single person-to-person kiss. Rosenthal's (Duck! Rabbit!) verse is stripped down to the bone, yet retains a singsong nursery rhyme quality, while Reynolds (Someday) illustrates in his signature lithe, clean-lined style. After "Little Miss planted a kiss"-she digs a hole and kisses the soil-the girl waters her planting and waits, at first patiently, and then with "doubt" and a "pout." At last her kiss sprouts, and a swirling fountain of polka dots and glitter emerges. Carrying her shimmering kisses in a bowl, the girl shares them generously with others until her supply is depleted. She gets a lovely surprise when she returns to her garden and sees a geyser of kisses rising from the ground, more vivid and sparkly than ever. The punchy rhymes and abstract visualization of kisses keep things from feeling too heavy-handed or saccharine; Rosenthal and Reynolds's collaboration should leave readers considering the rewards of simple gestures. Agent: Amy Rennert Agency. Illustrator's agent: Pippin Properties. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A clever play on words can only sustain a story for so long, and a weak one even less so. In this oh-so-sweet short rhyming tale, a girl digs a hole, then smooches the ground, literally planting a kiss. With her mostly patient care, this odd "seed" sprouts-a small fountain of pink and yellow dots and textured glitter. Other children gather to witness the unusual crop. In forced rhymes, they try to talk the girl out of distributing her harvest, but to no avail. Scooping up the swirling substance into an enormous red bowl, she travels the world, bestowing this odd gift on a diverse cast of children. Her diaphanous offering trails glitter throughout the pages until the bowl empties. She then returns to the "plant" and discovers that it's grown into a bright yellow entity, a source of "endless bliss." Though Reynolds's distinctive cartoonish illustrations are delightfully expressive, they fail to make up for the flat, strained story. Muddled messages about sharing and imaginative play detract from the plot and confuse readers. Lackluster, despite the glitter overload, and trying too hard to please, this book lacks the effortless charm of Rosenthal's Little Pea (Chronicle, 2005) or Reynolds's Ish (Candlewick, 2004). Libraries with the most devoted Rosenthal and Reynolds fans might want this for their collections; at best, it's an additional purchase for everyone else.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2012. 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 Horn Book Review
Little Miss plants a kiss, tends to it properly, then waits: "Doubt. / Pout. / Sprout! / SHOUT! SHOUT!" The single kiss blooms as pink and yellow sparkles that she spreads and shares with a diverse cast of other children; it turns out to be "endless bliss." The simple rhyming text is delightfully spare--as are Reynolds's miniscule, glitter-embellished pictures. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This Plus That, illustrated by Jen Corace, 2011) strips away all but the most essential words to share her story. Spare short phrases and one-word descriptors propel the action while leaving plenty of room for Reynolds, illustrating in a similar style found in The Dot (2003), to work his visual magic in a pale palette of mostly yellow, pink and gray. After providing sun, water and attention, the spunky heroine has moments of doubt. Her patience pays off when a sparkly object emerges from the soil. "Sprout! / SHOUT! SHOUT! // Gather about. // Wow! How? What now? / Stare and stare. // I'll share!' she declared." The other children who come by strongly disagree: "Don't you dare! It's far too rare! It'll go bare!" But "(She didn't care.)" She collects a large amount of the sparkly stuff in her big red bowl and distributes it far and wide. When it is all gone, "she returned. There she learnedfrom one little kiss // endless bliss!" Here Reynolds uses a golden wash with pink and iridescent dots to paint a most vigorous blooming swirly plant that spans the entirety of the final double-page spread. Sure to dazzle children, who will appreciate that a relatively small deed can lead to such magical results. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
