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IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

Name: IT'S NOT MY FAULT!
Author: Jory John
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3060-9

by Jory John ; illustrated by Jared Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2020

An ineffective mixture of moralistic and didactic.

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Inanimate objects defend themselves against misassigned blame.

An aggrieved teacher asks her student, “Why is your homework so messy?…Why can’t I read these test answers?…Why is your assignment so late?” The red-haired, gap-toothed boy confidently blames his pen, which growls in frustration in four increasingly large graphic-novel–style panels. The nameless white boy blames his shoes for mud tracked into the house, his backpack for his missing homework, and the moon for his late bedtime. “Welp. I think I’ve figured it all out. You just blame other stuff!” boasts this unlikable protagonist. But in a Scrooge-ian maybe-dream, his angry pen launches into a lengthy diatribe about how “never taking responsibility for your actions…is a sham.” The lecture continues for multiple pages, ending with the pen’s dubious assertion that the boy is “a mostly good kid with mostly good intentions” (though the text provides no evidence to back up this claim). The next day the boy seems to turn over a new leaf, standing on a table and yelling to his multiracial classmates that he no longer blames his possessions for his mistakes, but when put to the test, he goes back to his old habits. What could be an interesting commentary on white male entitlement ultimately fails to deliver, but Chapman’s cartoons of growling, angrily grimacing anthropomorphic objects are amusing.

An ineffective mixture of moralistic and didactic. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 9, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-3060-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE COOL BEAN MAKES A SPLASH
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE THIS BOOK!
by Jory John ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec

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THE BIG CHEESE
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald

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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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BUDDY'S NEW BUDDY

From the Growing With Buddy series , Vol. 3

by Christina Geist ; illustrated by Tim Bowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2022

Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient.

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How do you make a new friend when an old one moves away?

Buddy (from Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can’t Go to School, 2019, etc.) is feeling lonely. His best friend just moved across town. To make matters worse, there is a field trip coming up, and Buddy needs a bus partner. His sister, Lady, has some helpful advice for making a new pal: “You just need to find something you have in common.” Buddy loves the game Robo Chargers and karate. Surely there is someone else who does, too! Unfortunately, there isn’t. However, when a new student arrives (one day later) and asks everyone to call her Sunny instead of Alison, Buddy gets excited. No one uses his given name, either; they just call him Buddy. He secretly whispers his “real, official name” to Sunny at lunch—an indication that a true friendship is being formed. The rest of the story plods merrily along, all pieces falling exactly into place (she even likes Robo Chargers!), accompanied by Bowers’ digital art, a mix of spot art and full-bleed illustrations. Friendship-building can be an emotionally charged event in a child’s life—young readers will certainly see themselves in Buddy’s plight—but, alas, there is not much storytelling magic to be found. Buddy and his family are White, Sunny and Mr. Teacher are Black, and Buddy’s other classmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient. (Picture book. 4-7)