A good first peep at mindfulness training if not at Buddhism.
King Creet’s preventative measures for stubbed toes are just unsustainable.
“Long ago there was a young king named Creet. / In his land, people walked with bare feet.” The king’s mind has a tendency to wander, and he’s easily distracted; one day, as he walks down a country road, he stubs his toe most painfully. His solution, after a restless night, is to cover the entire country with soft leather. Everyone in the kingdom works to get it done…but the solution causes slick roads and keeps the rain from the soil. When the king consults his ministers, the wisest offers some mindful advice. With a little thought, mind training, and a little leather—on his feet—the issue is solved. Writer, acting teacher, and mindfulness proponent Nance bases his fable about the origin of shoes on a quote from eighth-century monk Shantideva’s long poem of Buddhist instruction, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. The passable couplets get the job done, though without any explicitly Buddhist content, and Holden’s bright illustrations make the tale friendly and inviting. Creet’s kingdom is racially diverse (Creet himself has light-brown skin and black hair), and its inhabitants wear tunics, loose trousers, robes, and the occasional turban. An author’s note locates the origin of footwear in Mesopotamia and discusses the inspirational source material.
A good first peep at mindfulness training if not at Buddhism. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61180-748-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bala Kids/Shambhala
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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
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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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