The pride of mastering skills through practice comes through in this affectionate holiday story.
A little girl’s dreidel must learn how to spin properly in time for Hanukkah in this children’s picture book.
Rebecca, a little girl with dark hair and pale skin, decides that with Hanukkah coming up, she’ll practice spinning her four favorite dreidels, each named after one of the Hebrew letters painted on their four sides: Harry Hey, Neil Nun, Gail Gimmel, and Sheila Shin. The first three of these special dreidels can whirl a long time, but Sheila just falls over immediately. At night, the dreidels practice spinning, encouraging Sheila when she falls. When the others go to sleep, Sheila keeps practicing. Though Sheila is nervous, all four dreidels dance beautifully when the time comes. The story itself doesn’t give background for the holiday, but a final section—“Let’s Learn About Hanukkah”—provides information about its origin and customs, including how to play with dreidels. Sachs (Dear Dragon Master, 2013, etc.) mirrors a child’s excitement about an upcoming holiday in the dreidels’ anticipation, both pleased and nervous, over their magical dance performance. Children can sometimes feel as if they’re being put on show during big family gatherings, so they also can relate to Sheila’s nerves and to the reassurance that’s found in the other dreidels’ kindness, plus the family warmth centered on a delicious holiday meal. The full-page illustrations by Krebs (Me & Him, 2014, etc.) are charmingly colorful and expressive.
The pride of mastering skills through practice comes through in this affectionate holiday story.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9796380-4-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Three Wishes Publishing Company
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
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
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