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MARY HAD A LITTLE LIZARD

Name: MARY HAD A LITTLE LIZARD
Author: Kayla Harren
ISBN: 978-1-5107-1635-3

by Kayla Harren ; illustrated by Kayla Harren ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2017

Cute but a little muddled and ultimately failing to break new ground

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In this wordless picture book, a pet lizard avoids separation anxiety by stowing away in its owner’s backpack on the first day of school.

Frontmatter pages depict the little lizard cuddled up next to the snoozing Mary’s pillow. The lizard wakes the flaxen-haired white child, plainly expecting a day of play, but Mary’s mother (a grown-up version of Mary) gestures urgently at her watch: clearly something is going on. As the lizard waits, puppylike, at the door with leash dangling from its mouth, Mary sadly packs her backpack—so of course the lizard crawls in. Although Mary sternly gestures for it to stay concealed, predictably, the lizard—possibly the cutest iguana anyone ever did see—sneaks out and wreaks mild havoc to the delight of Mary’s racially diverse classmates and displeasure of her hip, black teacher. Harren’s figures are of the “big eyes” aesthetic, though their expressions are largely ones of snub-nosed merriment rather than Gothic gloom. While the specifics of the premise are unusual, the overall story and treatment are not. Children will wonder at the (fairly) matter-of-fact way the teacher orders the lizard out of the classroom—and the way the chagrined but obedient reptile obeys. There is no scolding for Mary, just a mildly exasperated trip to the school for her mom, who leashes the lizard up and drags it home.

Cute but a little muddled and ultimately failing to break new ground . (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5107-1635-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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by Frank Murphy & April Groman ; illustrated by Kayla Harren

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RUBY AND LONELY
by Patrice Karst ; illustrated by Kayla Harren

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A FAMILY LIKE OURS
by Frank Murphy & Alice Lee ; illustrated by Kayla Harren

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

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

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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)