by Alexandra Garibal ; illustrated by Sibylle Delacroix ; translated by Vineet Lal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022
A visually appealing but ultimately one-sided friendship story.
A young boy befriends a girl with “a head full of birds.”
At first, Noah does nothing to stop his classmates when they ridicule Nanette, who can stare for hours at a spider’s web and who “rocks back and forth, to and fro / fluttering her fingers like butterflies.” But when Noah goofs off in class, he is told to sit next to Nanette. Noah observes Nanette, and he sees the beauty in the way she interacts with the world, whether it’s setting colored paper boats afloat in the gutter or removing her boots to splash in the rain in the schoolyard. Noah and Nanette become friends who explore the worlds in their minds together. Translated from French, this third-person narrative has a straightforward quality. There are plenty of details but also ample space for readers to fill in their own. Soft colored-pencil illustrations use shading, composition, and primary colors to direct the eye and highlight Nanette, who seems to almost glow in her yellow rain slicker. Textual clues point to Nanette’s neurodiversity, although no specifics are named. Unfortunately, readers never get a sense of Nanette’s perspective; she feels less like a fully realized character and more like an inspirational catalyst for Noah’s character development—a choice that centers a neurotypical point of view. Both characters are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A visually appealing but ultimately one-sided friendship story. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5596-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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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...
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
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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