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SHAKESPEARE'S SEASONS

Name: SHAKESPEARE'S SEASONS
Author: Miriam Weiner
ISBN: 978-1-935703-57-0

edited by Miriam Weiner & illustrated by Shannon Whitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2012

Just lovely.

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A pretty pair of ideas makes a very nice read-aloud: Tiny snippets of Shakespeare form the text for an illustrated almanac.

Whitt creates fastidiously detailed cut-and-paste, origami and collage images to complement the Bard's words. The book opens with “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Readers see children on the beach flying kites and building sandcastles, watched by a woman with a book. The beachscape is visually anchored by the head of a woman with long hair, hinting that this may be a memory. The Winter’s Tale’s “mints, savory, marjoram; / The marigold” finds three little girls amid the flowers and green. “Earth’s increase” from The Tempest is a bounty of pumpkins and veggies; “bareness everywhere” comes after a Christmas scene. “The purest spring is not so free from mud” depicts mud-luscious splashing and a pair of yellow boots framing a single crocus. In spring, there is a wedding—“Sweet lovers love the spring,” from As You Like It. A final double-page spread flows from a proposal to a pregnancy to children to teens to an elder couple through the seasons: crocus to primroses to autumn leaves to snow and back to crocuses again. The longest quote is eight lines but most are four or less, and read aloud with the images, they are easily accessible even to very young children.

Just lovely. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-935703-57-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Downtown Bookworks

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

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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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A LIBRARY

by Nikki Giovanni ; illustrated by Erin K. Robinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 2022

A lushly illustrated homage to librarians who provide a welcome and a home away from home for all who enter.

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A love letter to libraries.

A Black child, with hair in two puffballs tied with yellow ribbons, a blue dress with a Peter Pan collar, and black patent leather Mary Janes, helps Grandmother with the housework, then, at Grandmother’s suggestion, heads to the library. The child’s eagerness to go, with two books under an arm and one in their hand, suggests that this is a favorite destination. The books’ wordless covers emphasize their endless possibilities. The protagonist’s description of the library makes clear that they are always free to be themselves there—whether they feel happy or sad, whether they’re reading mysteries or recipes, and whether they feel “quick and smart” or “contained and cautious.” Robinson’s vibrant, carefully composed digital illustrations, with bright colors that invite readers in and textures and patterns in every image, effectively capture the protagonist’s passion for reading and appreciation for a space where they feel accepted regardless of disposition. In her author’s note, Giovanni states that she spent summers visiting her grandmother in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she went to the Carnegie Branch of the Lawson McGhee Library. She expresses gratitude for Mrs. Long, the librarian, who often traveled to the main library to get books that Giovanni could not find in their segregated branch. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lushly illustrated homage to librarians who provide a welcome and a home away from home for all who enter. (Picture book. 4-7)