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LET'S PLAY!

Name: LET'S PLAY!
Author: Amanda McCardie
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1765-0

A BOOK ABOUT MAKING FRIENDS

by Amanda McCardie ; illustrated by Colleen Larmour ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2021

Let’s read this one.

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A friendship primer for the primary set.

While this picture book isn’t necessarily set in a post-pandemic world, its overt social-emotional lessons will doubtless prove useful and relevant for many children coming out of varying degrees of social isolation. The writing style verges on the expository with narration that reads like a voice-over in a documentary that records the experiences of a red-haired White girl named Sukie as she enters a new school. Her class has 15 other pupils, some of whom also appear to be White while others seem to be children of color, including one child who wears hijab. Larmour’s art style has shades of Quentin Blake, Bob Graham, Amy Schwartz, and Aliki, with lots of bright colors, expressive linework, and emphasis on character over setting. Themes of sameness and difference, loyalty, and sharing along with a range of emotions are explored in small moments that follow Sukie and her classmates as they form friendships and build community. An author’s note acknowledges that “this book doesn’t show things going wrong between friends, even though sometimes they do. Instead, I wanted to focus on what it can look like when friendship goes right.” Honestly, it looks great, and this affirming, practical, engaging picture book will be a terrific resource for young readers to befriend.

Let’s read this one. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: May 11, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-5362-1765-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
OUR VERY OWN DOG
by Amanda McCardie ; illustrated by Salvatore Rubbino

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AN ABC OF EQUALITY

by Chana Ginelle Ewing ; illustrated by Paulina Morgan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

Adults will do better skipping the book and talking with their children.

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Social-equity themes are presented to children in ABC format.

Terms related to intersectional inequality, such as “class,” “gender,” “privilege,” “oppression,” “race,” and “sex,” as well as other topics important to social justice such as “feminism,” “human being,” “immigration,” “justice,” “kindness,” “multicultural,” “transgender,” “understanding,” and “value” are named and explained. There are 26 in all, one for each letter of the alphabet. Colorful two-page spreads with kid-friendly illustrations present each term. First the term is described: “Belief is when you are confident something exists even if you can’t see it. Lots of different beliefs fill the world, and no single belief is right for everyone.” On the facing page it concludes: “B is for BELIEF / Everyone has different beliefs.” It is hard to see who the intended audience for this little board book is. Babies and toddlers are busy learning the names for their body parts, familiar objects around them, and perhaps some basic feelings like happy, hungry, and sad; slightly older preschoolers will probably be bewildered by explanations such as: “A value is an expression of how to live a belief. A value can serve as a guide for how you behave around other human beings. / V is for VALUE / Live your beliefs out loud.”

Adults will do better skipping the book and talking with their children. (Board book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-78603-742-8

Page Count: 52

Publisher: Frances Lincoln

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ABC OF FEELINGS

by Bonnie Lui ; illustrated by Bonnie Lui ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 2021

A mixed bag.

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An alphabetical tour of emotions.

This British import mixes words that many young kids will know, such as brave, kind, and mad (the last defined in the American sense, as angry), with less-familiar ones such as overwhelmed and vulnerable. It even features at least one word that may be new to adults: “X is for Xenial….Xenial is being welcoming to strangers.” Compounding the difficulty here, the visual image of a Black kid dressed as a magician hugging a rabbit they’ve pulled out of a hat does not exactly illustrate xeniality (xenialness?). Other illustrations do a better job of helping readers understand the words being introduced. The illustrations feature racially diverse children and are usually paired in each double-page spread: “A is for Anxious. Anxious is feeling really worried about something. / B is for Brave. Brave is being nervous about something and doing it anyway.” On the A page, a brown-skinned kid cowers from the dragon that encircles their bed, as in a nightmare. Across the gutter on the B page, the ferociously scowling child confronts the now-intimidated monster. Kids will get an immediate sense of those two words. Animals, real and imaginary, often play a role in the pictures. The book will be best shared one on one or in very small groups, when children can really spend time examining the pictures and talking about their own impression of what is happening in each picture. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A mixed bag. (word list) (Picture book. 5-7)