For success in school, the importance of empathy and compassion can’t be overstated.
A father’s forced absence is keenly felt by a Latinx child.
Shortly after planting sunflower seeds for his daughter’s school, the father is deported. She wishes that her teacher knew how much life has changed for her family. The teacher, on the other hand, wishes her students were aware that “they / are not / alone.” The 100-year-old oak tree at the center of the school is the sharing place where all students can reveal their secrets. As they feel increasingly comfortable opening up about their home lives, they come together and plant sunflower seeds in hopes that the girl’s father will one day see them bloom. Kramer’s homage to the “I Wish My Teacher Knew” movement draws attention to the many hardships children experience at home while still trying to succeed in school. The examples given are particularly poignant. Mora’s soft, mixed-media illustrations reflect a diverse and dynamic classroom and sympathetically portray many of the challenges faced by children. Although it is presumed that the teacher is the initial focus of the titular statement, the shifting perspectives can make for awkward and murky transitions. Curiously, Kramer, who is half Puerto Rican, states in her author’s note that Puerto Ricans are U.S. residents rather than citizens. A Spanish-language edition publishes simultaneously. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 14.8% of actual size.)
For success in school, the importance of empathy and compassion can’t be overstated. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-22630-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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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