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THE SANDWICH SWAP

Name: THE SANDWICH SWAP
Author: Rania Al Abdullah
ISBN: 978-1-4231-2484-9

by Rania Al Abdullah with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2010

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Like all best friends, Lily and Salma do everything together: They draw pictures, play on the swings, jump rope and eat lunch together. But Lily eats a peanut-butter–and-jelly sandwich while Salma eats a hummus-and-pita sandwich. Each girl thinks the other’s looks yucky! When they say so, the friendship splits, schoolkids take sides and someone yells FOOD FIGHT! Salma and Lily feel ashamed, especially when they are called into the principal’s office. The next day they sample each other’s sandwiches and declare them delicious. They go to the principal’s office again, this time with an idea to share—a gatefold depicts a long picnic table overflowing with ethnic food and happy kids. Tusa’s whimsical illustrations spice up the story. Her large, vivacious drawings contribute character and comic touches, especially to the food fight, but there is one notable omission in this story of cultural understanding: Absent from the picnic table’s array of flags identifying ethnicities (which include Iceland, Greece and Mexico among others, in addition to the United States and Jordan) is the Israeli flag—a hugely sad missed opportunity. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: April 27, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-4231-2484-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Triumph Books

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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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BECAUSE YOUR DADDY LOVES YOU

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005

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Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)