A well-intentioned but superficial take on Woolf’s famous piece.
Kephart uses Virginia Woolf’s essay to inspire children to find their own creative spaces.
In the opening spread of this picture book, Woolf, referenced only as “she,” steps out of her house, reduced to the size of a dollhouse, and appears in different spots in the garden. Lyrical text explains that “on and on and on she goes, / to that room she calls her own.” In the next scene—a soft, surreal one with the roof peeled back from her tiny house, with an oversized Woolf sitting up and sticking out of it and books flying away like birds—Kephart continues to explain that Woolf’s room is “her place to think. / Her place to dream. Her place to be.” From here, the author encourages readers to find their own rooms or creative spaces. Colorful watercolors in spot art and larger scenes depict diverse children under a tree, on a neighborhood sidewalk, at the kitchen table, under a bedsheet fort, and in more spaces. Serving as a guide, Woolf continues to make appearances along with the children until the last spread, which shows her beginning to write her influential feminist essay. A concluding author’s note finally alleviates potential confusion and vague references by identifying Woolf and her essay in text and a photograph. Still, though both the text and visuals are beautiful, the concept is a bit heady for the target audience, and the overall sentiment likely won’t connect with them. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A well-intentioned but superficial take on Woolf’s famous piece. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-951836-38-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Relatable guidance for nocturnal worriers.
Actor and author Greenfield’s latest picture book follows a child kept awake by anxieties.
The pajama-clad narrator huddles in bed among the blue shadows of a bedroom at night. “Every time I close my eyes, I’m afraid of all the scary stuff I see.” Bright, candy-hued clouds of cartoon images surround the child, lively, disruptive depictions of the what-ifs and exaggerated disasters that crowd out sleep: war (we see the world pop “into a piece of popcorn”), kidnapping (pirates carry away the child’s teddy bear), falling “up” into the sun, tarantulas in the toilet, and a menacing-looking dentist. These outsize insomnia inducers may help readers put their own unvoiced concerns into perspective; after all, what frightens one person might seem silly but understandable to another. Our narrator tries to replace the unsettling thoughts with happy ones—hugging a baby panda, being serenaded by a choir of doughnuts, and “all the people who love me holding hands and wearing every piece of clothing that they own.” But sleep is still elusive. Finally, remembering that there’s a difference between reality and an overactive imagination, the child relaxes a bit: “Right now, everything is okay. And so am I.” Reassuring, though not exactly sedate, this tale will spark daytime discussions about how difficult it can be to quiet unsettling thoughts. The child has dark hair and blue-tinged skin, reflecting the darkness of the bedroom.
Relatable guidance for nocturnal worriers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593697894
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
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