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SHOW UP AND VOTE

Name: SHOW UP AND VOTE
Author: Ani Di Franco
ISBN: 9780593383773

by Ani Di Franco ; illustrated by Rachelle Baker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 2024

A powerful primer on citizenship.

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Musician Di Franco and illustrator Baker emphasize the significance of doing one’s civic duty in this story of a Black mother and child heading to the polls.

It’s Election Day, and despite the terrible weather this November day, Mama has a “very important job.” Accompanied by her young child, who narrates, Mama sets out to cast a ballot. Mama and her little one line up, enter a booth, and pull the curtain. Mama makes her selections, while the child pushes the buttons. Di Franco’s language reflects the magnitude of the day while remaining accessible to curious readers. The youngster’s pride and sense of belonging are palpable as Mama explains why everyone votes (to “have a say / about laws and rules / about parks and schools / about who’s gonna run them / and in what way”). The well-deployed internal and end rhymes make for a read-along as whimsical as it is civic-minded. Baker’s thickly outlined, earth-toned artwork is charmingly realistic, with a pleasingly retro vibe. Author and illustrator portray the electoral process as simultaneously familiar, momentous, and joyous. As our narrator identifies the ways voting can connect us to the people in our communities and beyond, the illustrations depict a whole world of diverse faces and engaged, smiling citizens. Sporting their “I voted” stickers, mother and child return home that evening, thoughtfully aware that voting is “how it all starts.”

A powerful primer on citizenship. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024

ISBN: 9780593383773

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE KNOWING
by Ani Di Franco ; illustrated by Julia Mathew

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)