Review by Booklist Review
In aptly festive fashion, bright, busy art and lively rhymes combine to present an array of parades. They span Veteran's Day, showing uniformed men and women in military jeeps ("Heroes waving to the crowd. / People cheering loud, loud, loud!"); holidays, like Chinese New Year and the 4th of July; sports championships; Mardi Gras ("Jesters strolling in the street. / Drummers rolling out the beat"); Pride, and more. The page-filling illustrations invite scrutiny and animatedly capture various parade components as well as the delight and excitement they inspire; celebration themes, along with diverse kids and adults participating in and watching the show, provide a welcome, inclusive approach. While the asterisk following each "Everyone loves a parade" refrain may initially puzzle or distract (the asterisk concept may need explaining), the annotations finally reveal that "everyone" doesn't include the street cleaners, who appear in the illustrations throughout. It's a somewhat heavy-handed touch, perhaps, but it's also a stark reminder of a role that's often invisible. Endnotes give some background on parades in general and the specific ones highlighted.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Doesn't everyone love a parade?Beginning with Veteran's Day, generally the first parade in the school year, and progressing chronologically, Denish and Franco capture the joyful chaos of long-standing parades like Thanksgiving, Chinese New Year, and Fourth of July as well as more recent or localized parades such as Pride Mardi Gras or the celebration of a sports championship. Most events are recognizable from illustrative or textual clues, but an informational paragraph about each parade in the backmatter clearly identifies each parade and its history. Vibrant, full-bleed illustrations show a diverse, multigenerational community participating in and enjoying each parade. Four lines of rhyming text describe each parade's distinctive sights ("Friendly faces floating high. / Unicycles whizzing by. / Jazzy kickers, / Candy lickers") and sounds ("Ladies clogging, clicks and claps"; "Firecrackers! Boom. Fizz. BAM"). The book's title acts as a refrain for each spread. But wait! There's an asterisk at the end of the titlewhy? There are two reasons. Readers will discover the first at the end of the main text and will want to carefully review the illustrations in Where's Waldo? fashion now that they know the one sort of person who does not love a parade. A careful read of the author's bio provides the second reason, in the description of her preferred way to enjoy a parade.A festive celebration of America's more common parades. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
