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THE CHEER-UP BIRD

Name: THE CHEER-UP BIRD
Author: Edward van de Vendel
ISBN: 978-1-935954-45-3

by Edward van de Vendel ; illustrated by Ingrid Schubert & Dieter Schubert ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2015

A chirpy pick-me-up tailor-made for sharing with one or many glum young listeners.

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Bored or grumpy animals from Down Under get a lift from the Cheer-up Bird in this Dutch import. Now, who will cheer up the weary bird?

Three koalas so comically afflicted with ennui that they “were wondering / why they have to climb / and eat / and breathe” hang listlessly from tree branches. Enter the Cheer-up Bird, exuberant of plumage and hue, to trace hearts in the air and put the suddenly bright-eyed furry gents on to a trio of coy koala ladies. Likewise, the bird’s simple appearance is enough to bring three grumpy wombat sibs together for a shared project, lift the spirits of a depressed kangaroo monarch as two kangaroo musicians toot didgeridoos, and gather all the animals together to jolly a pair of elderly emus out of the blahs. The Schuberts make deft use of palette, presenting the cranky animals against muted brown, gray, or lavender backgrounds, then brightening them to sunny yellows, oranges, and blues. Then the droopy bird flaps back to her nest, flying from bright yellow into gloomy grays as the onlooking animals worry that she may not be able to work tomorrow. Fear not: back at her nest, her spirits are recharged by her own flock of little “cheery Cheer-up Bird Birdies!”

A chirpy pick-me-up tailor-made for sharing with one or many glum young listeners. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-935954-45-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Lemniscaat USA

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015

Categories:

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

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DAYS OF BLUEGRASS LOVE
by Edward van de Vendel ; translated by Emma Rault

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE FOX
by Edward van de Vendel ; illustrated by Marije Tolman ; translated by David Colmer

- BOOK REVIEW
I'LL ROOT FOR YOU
by Edward van de Vendel ; illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch ; translated by David Colmer

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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RUBY FINDS A WORRY

From the Big Bright Feelings series

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...

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Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.

Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)