Book Review: Yak and Dove by Kyo Maclear, Illustrator Esme Shapiro

This sweet story, with lovely illustrations, delivers a nice message of friendship.
Yak and Dove
by Kyo Maclear (Author), Esme Shapiro (Illustrator)

Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
Hardcover: 56 pages
Publisher: Tundra Books; Ill edition (September 19, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1770494944
Genre: Animals, Children, Friends
My Rating: 3.75 of 5.0

Sometimes the unlikeliest friends form the greatest friendships. A funny, charming picture book from a dynamic duo.
Friends Yak and Dove are complete opposites. Yak is large and Dove is small. Yak has fur and Dove has feathers. Yak is polite. Dove is ill-mannered. Yak likes quiet. Dove likes noise. One day as Yak and Dove list their differences they come to the conclusion that maybe they aren't meant to be friends. In the hope of finding a new best friend, Yak holds auditions. But when a small feathered contestant sings Yak's favorite song, the two begin to think that maybe they are alike after all . . .
Yak and Dove whimsically captures the highs and lows of friendship through the three interconnected tales of two very different friends.

Review:
Yak and Dove are close friends in spite of their many differences. Yak is big, furry and polite. Dove is small, feathered and abrupt to the edge of rudeness. The pair see twins and wonder what it would be like to be so close and connected. Suddenly they are challenging their own friendship and decide they are not well suited as friends after all. Marmot helps Yak audition for new friends but in the end Yak and Dove remember all they share and care about. This portion of the book is fun, the message meaningful and the illustrations are full and lovely.

The book then becomes confusing as it moves to what seemed to me to be unrelated, and disjointed additional stories. At that point it lost my attention as well as the attention of my four year old granddaughter. The book would have been better without the strange jump and could have been shortened which would fit the intended audience even better. I can recommend the first portion of the book but am sorry I was lost on the remainder.

I received the ebook through NetGalley. It qualifies for my NetGalley challenge.

Sunday Words of Encouragement September 19, 2010

This morning we celebrated communion and sang some powerful praise and worship songs. Our pastor's message was titled "Friends or Just Friendly?". He pointed out that our lifestyles have changed from the days when a small community might sit out on their front porches, wave as you go by and stop to visit, share food and fellowship/friendship. (One friend in front of us sent us a note that said: nowadays the porches are built on the backs of the houses to discourage people from dropping by.) Pastor pointed out that because we (as Christians or followers of Christ) are loved much, we can love much.  The overall point was summarized in   this Verse for today:  John 13: 35 (NIV):

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Our choir song this morning was "Cry Holy". It is very awesome and
we have a great soloist who made it that much more powerful.
I couldn't find a video with words so they are printed below
this choral presentation which is quite wonderful.

CRY HOLY by Salvador

We come this far,

by light of day,

through deserts of loneliness,

to the sacred place,

well you know my life,

and all I've been through,

the sin in my heart,

has kept me from you,

but Father your grace,

is greater then sin,

your mercy rains down,

and heals me again.

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry, holy, holy, holy.

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry, and cry holy, holy, holy

You are holy

When I'm on my face,

in my darkest night,

I cry for a way,

to your shining light,

and Father your grace,

is greater then sin,

shines down on me,

it heals me again.

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry holy, holy, holy.

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry holy, holy, holy.

You are holy.

You are holy.

oohh you are holy, holy, holy

And Father your grace,

is greater then sin,

it shines down on me,

and heals me again.

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry, holy, holy, holy.

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry, and cry holy, holy, holy.

You are holy, holy

You are holy, holy, holy

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry,

cry holy, all I can do, is cry out for you, all I can do is cry, holy.

I recognize the dilemma of being friendly v. being a friend. As I blog hop and visit many sites it is really an act of being friendly. But I especially cherish those friends I have made in the blogging community who I know I can trust to be honest with me and I know that they will be there if I need help or comfort and I am here for them if they need help or comfort at their end.  I prayed today that God would grow and strengthen those friendships that he wants to build around me and my work, locally and in the Internet world.

Blogger Friends Helping Each Other!

So nice to have blogger friends help out!
I just wanted to say "Thank You" to Stella at Ex Libris who directed me to Mindful Musings who had posted the very simple fix for my comment issue!
Stella has also told me where to find the progress bars for my challenges and where to add the Wibiya widget toolbar which is very cool! Soon I will work on updated my challenges!

A BIG THANKS TO MY ONLINE FRIENDS!

As I send off an announcement about my blog I wanted to include here a BIG THANK YOU to many who have encouraged my reading (well that didn't need much encouraging actually *G*) reviewing (it was only a little scary at first) and now my blog!


Thank you to J. Kaye from J. Kaye's Book Blog who has been a big inspiration to me over the past six months! Her blog is a great place to visit! J. Kaye even found my blog site before I announced it when she learned I was working on setting it up this weekend! Thanks for being a fun cyber friend!

Thanks to my fellow moderators at SweetandSensualRomances [now SweettoSensual Romances] and SaSR Promo group because you ladies have supported my efforts and encouraged me! Thanks Carol, Merle, Rebecca and Sarah! I love hanging out with you!

Thank you to DeNita at AuthorIsland where I started visiting in March 2008! I won many books there, mostly pdfs. Then I won the Christmas 2008 Kindle contest and so received a Kindle2 in March this year! That allowed me to start reading all the pdfs and reviewing eBooks!

Thank you to the review sites I started with in May. YouGottaRead and fellow reviewers there have given me a lot of encouragement for the reviewing besides being crazy fun - thanks friends! And thanks to Lynda of BetweenTheLines at WRDF (Writers and Readers of Distinctive Fiction) for allowing me to review there as well. I am enjoying the experiences!

Finally Thank you to the many authors I have met this past year who have been SO nice to me and also encouraged my reviewing. All of the authors I have met online and some in person (at RT Bookfair in Orlando) have been absolutely lovely people. Without your writing talents and work my life would be very dry! You all keep writing and I will keep on reading and reviewing!

I have not yet linked to many of my author friends so please don't feel slighted if you aren't linked yet! I will keep adding as this week progresses! Some of your sites are listed in my full profile for blogs I follow. If you visit me and want to make it really easy - feel free to send me your link!

THANK YOU!