Multisensory suggestions to help children transform difficult moments into something positive.
Saying goodbye isn’t easy.
Life is always moving along, and that “means that someday / something you love will come to an end / and it will be time to say goodbye.” Acknowledging that transitions can be sad (one spread shows a child grieving a dog and later bidding farewell to the pet during a beach ceremony), Vickers uses easily recognizable events and activities to craft a child-centered message: Readers can make memories of happy moments to look back on later. They can take photos, draw pictures, write stories, or even use their mind’s eye to commit events to memory; for this last one, the accompanying illustration shows scenes from a fabulous birthday party worth remembering. Children also learn that sometimes memories have a way of emerging on their own, summoned by a familiar song or scent. And sometimes they return when a child is sitting quietly on their own. Readers are asked, when they are ready, to imagine all their memories and recognize how they define them and give them strength for the future. Finally, they are reminded that even though something they love has come to an end, their story and their memories continue. Aranda’s vibrant spreads, suffused with rich hues that convey characters’ various emotions, depict racially diverse and generally joyful children and adults. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Multisensory suggestions to help children transform difficult moments into something positive. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781534494411
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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