A charming slice of cheer.
In this cumulative tale, an apple tree that stands near the house where Rosa lives marks the passing of seasons and the flitting of critters.
Amid a wide patch of grass sits the apple tree, or el manzano, receiving the sun near a squat home adorned with a red roof. The rain, or la lluvia, sustains the tree, and the birds, or los pájaros, piece together a nest in the tree. Rosa’s cat, Dulce, and dog, Churro, cause mischief around the apple tree while bees pollinate the blossoms, which will bloom into small apples that will cling “from branch to branch.” Establishing a deliberate pace from the first line and writing in verse similar to “The House That Jack Built,” Duran chronicles the journey of an apple from flower to fruit with a modest dose of critter-based humor. The author scatters one-word, italicized Spanish translations of key words throughout that prove to be occasional distractions. Fitzgerald’s scruffy artwork replicates the precise rustic sensibility evoked by the text. Lush greens, dabs of oranges and reds, and glimpses of earthy browns combine into portraits of rural serenity. When the apples appear ready to be plucked from the apple tree, Rosa and her family, depicted in varying shades of brown and cued as Latine, gather to bake an apple pie for a picnic that everyone can join. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A charming slice of cheer. (translation of Spanish words, recipe for applesauce) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63655-061-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Red Comet Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It doesn’t take a fortune teller to predict the laughter that will emanate from this world of tomorrow.
The future is now…and it’s exceedingly silly.
“This book is from the future.” What are things like there? Barnett enlightens readers: “The sun is called the moon and the moon is called the sun.” Readers learn that apples no longer exist (Barnett doesn’t explain why), that lots of people are named “Charlie Cheese Face” (“There’s an interesting reason why, but we don’t have time for that story”), and that instead of “goodbye,” people now say, “You smell like a baby!” The work closes with a ridiculous conversation between two characters who somehow manage to work in most of the new terms. This tale’s raison d’être seems to be coming up with the goofiest alternatives to normal day-to-day terms and interactions. Barnett gets seriously silly as he thinks up gags ideal for reading aloud at storytime. As for Harris’ art, aside from the occasional cool pair of sunglasses or hair dye, the future feels pretty early-21st-century; his colorful ink and gouache illustrations are rife with visual gags. Futuristic terms look as if they were printed on a label maker. Human characters vary in skin tone.
It doesn’t take a fortune teller to predict the laughter that will emanate from this world of tomorrow. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9798217033171
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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