A kid-friendly primer on addressing the elephant in the room—metaphorical and otherwise.
Attempting to conceal a big secret only makes life harder.
Maya’s family is trying to hide something that’s sitting in the middle of their living room: a big pink egg-shaped elephant wearing a yellow diaper and a folded newspaper hat. Maya’s dad refuses to look at him. Her mother “tries to sweep him under the rug,” while her sister “dances around him.” Nevertheless, the elephant is an ever looming presence in their lives—and a mortifying one, too. The neighbors complain about the noise, so Maya pretends she is practicing her trumpet. And even the raccoons hold their noses at the stinking elephant diapers. When new girl Serena moves next door and tries to befriend Maya, Maya makes several humorous but also desperate excuses. Finally, Serena knocks on Maya’s door and reveals that she has her own large green elephant. The elephants make an effective metaphor for the embarrassing secrets that so often bring kids discomfort. Together, the girls decide it’s better to talk about their problems rather than trying to cover them up—a sound takeaway that will resonate with readers in similar situations. Cartoon-style illustrations with large color blocks and minimal details create a gentle, nonthreatening world for kids to safely consider and sharpen social-emotional skills. Maya and her family have blue skin, while Serena has bright orange skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A kid-friendly primer on addressing the elephant in the room—metaphorical and otherwise. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781958325025
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marble Press
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As insubstantial as hot air.
A diverse cast of children first makes a fleet of hot air balloons and then takes to the sky in them.
Lifestyle maven Gaines uses this activity as a platform to celebrate diversity in learning and working styles. Some people like to work together; others prefer a solo process. Some take pains to plan extensively; others know exactly what they want and jump right in. Some apply science; others demonstrate artistic prowess. But “see how beautiful it can be when / our differences share the same sky?” Double-page spreads leading up to this moment of liftoff are laid out such that rhyming abcb quatrains typically contain one or two opposing concepts: “Some of us are teachers / and share what we know. / But all of us are learners. / Together is how we grow!” In the accompanying illustration, a bespectacled, Asian-presenting child at a blackboard lectures the other children on “balloon safety.” Gaines’ text has the ring of sincerity, but the sentiment is hardly an original one, and her verse frequently sacrifices scansion for rhyme. Sometimes it abandons both: “We may not look / or work or think the same, / but we all have an / important part to play.” Swaney’s delicate, pastel-hued illustrations do little to expand on the text, but they are pretty. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.2-by-18.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 70.7% of actual size.)
As insubstantial as hot air. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4003-1423-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
