A charming, rhyming picture book designed to inspire.
While sitting outside her home one night, a forlorn little girl is surprised by a book that falls from the sky.
Glowing like a shooting star, the book lands at her feet. When she opens it, the pages transport her to a whimsical, imaginary land full of possibility. The girl is so enamored with the book that she takes it to school and shares it with her classmates. Inspired by what she’s read, the girl begins to write her own, original story. Swept up in the magic she has created, the girl’s classmates start reading—and, in one case, writing—books of their own. Eventually the first girl’s words take flight, shimmering as they circle the Earth and land at the homes of other children who, presumably, will be inspired to find their voices. Beaty’s rhyming text is charmingly sparse: each word is carefully chosen, and the language glimmers with precision. Much of the story is told by Phumiruk’s gorgeous illustrations, which not only feature a protagonist who appears to be Asian, but also children with diverse skin tones and hair textures; all the children appear to be wearing school uniforms. While the words and pictures work in synchrony, creating a lyrical call to action encouraging children to find their voices and, simultaneously, their inner strength, the plot itself is abstract and widely open to interpretation, such that the book reads more like a poem than a traditional story. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 60.6% of actual size.)
A charming, rhyming picture book designed to inspire. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1905-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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