Book Reviews by Elizabeth Pusack of Green Bean Books
Two is for Twins by Wendy Cheyette Lewison (BB $6.99)
“Each one has the other there to play a game to help…to share. Two ride the seesaw. Two build with blocks. Sometimes two get chicken pocks!” Hiroe Nakata (Daddy Calls Me Doodlebug and more) paints a bounding, building and birthday-candle-blowing curly-headed twosome in party hats, play clothes, bunny slippers, and lively yellow rain slickers. Sometimes matching, sometimes not! A dynamic rhyming board book for duets and singlets alike.
Big Little Brother by Kevin Kling (HC $17.99)
A RIOT of a sibling rivalry book. Little Brother used to be an itty-bitty crybaby. Now he’s bigger than Big Brother, but still does baby things, like toddle about in a diaper and tote the same doughnut around all day. Not to mention all the toy-touching. Pretty annoying. But when a bully steals big brother’s plastic turkey at playschool, little brother comes to the rescue! His bigness scares the mean boy into skedaddling. By the end of the book Big and Little have come to an arrangement. They team-up to tinker toy and Big sings the monsters away when Little goes to sleep. Monkey With a Toolbelt Chris Monroe’s cartoony characters and slightly snarky speech bubbles are the best! Grown-ups will laugh along.
Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall (HC $16.99)
Rubina’s mama makes her bring pesky little sister Sana along to her first birthday party in America. Sana acts like a spoilsport and cries over spilled milk. That evening Rubina saves her prize party favor, a big old-fashioned cherry lollipop–for tomorrow’s breakfast, but when she wakes up all that’s left of her treat is a slobbery little triangle on a stick! Worst of all, the girls at school know: If Rubina’s invited, slimy sneaky Sana will tag-along! Rubina gets left out for a “really long time.” One day Sana comes home waving her own party invitation. Sana’s mama insists littlest sister Maryam get to go, too. Rubina could take revenge, but instead she saves Sana’s day, explaining party etiquette to her mother, who responds to Rubina’s new-found maturity! Sana, whose grown some sweetness herself, thanks Rubina with a big green lollipop. Lovely and funny and accompanied by Blackall of Ivy and Bean
Tony Baloney by Pam Muñoz Ryan (HC $16.99)
Tony Baloney loves “fish tacos with parmesan cheese, Little Green Walrus Guys, his stuffed animal buddy, Dandelion, and anything with wheels.” He does NOT love being the trouble-magnet boy penguin in a brood full of girls! The babies are a bummer, but Big Sister Baloney is especially icky and always makes Tony be the kitty when they play Boss of the World. When Tony hits his wits’ end he retreats with his Ostrich stuffy to his cheese-filled hidey space and waits for Momma and Poppa to stop by for a little chat. Will sisters and brother work through their Antarctic arguments? Maybe the babies could meow for a change! Ryan is as rad at picture books as she is at middle-readers (Esperanza Rising and Becoming Naomi León).
