Simple, snowy fun with a vocabulary-building boost.
A school day turns into a surprise.
Early in the morning, as a group of diverse children gather to wait for their school bus, a small scattering of snowflakes begin to fall. The children, who arrive in alphabetical order by name, each have a different morning preoccupation: “Beatrice burrows” (in a book). “Carlos catches” (snowflakes). “Divya drifts” (back to sleep). Although the alliteration doesn’t continue throughout the book, each new child’s activity offers room for educators and caregivers to pause for discussion. “Hannah stomps. Isaiah romps” is an ideal place to ponder the difference between a stomp and a romp. The sentences are brief, but they pack a powerful punch when it comes to vocabulary-building. Many of the children are reproduced in a double-page final spread that allows readers to play a seek-and-find game as the characters romp through a now-snowy scene. Backgrounds have the appearance of a child’s drawing, with buildings that look as though they were scrawled in black marker. Together, the text and illustrations create an energetic and idealized urban landscape that readers would love to visit, especially when the reason why the bus isn’t showing up is revealed: It’s a snow day! Young fans of Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day (1962) will find this an enjoyable companion book, and this title will likely see heavy rotation in libraries during the colder months of the year. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Simple, snowy fun with a vocabulary-building boost. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-951836-47-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Loewen’s story is a simple snapshot of kindergarten graduation day, and it stays true to form, with Yoshikawa’s artwork resembling photos that might be placed in an album—and the illustrations cheer, a mixed media of saturated color, remarkable depth and joyful expression. The author comfortably captures the hesitations of making the jump from kindergarten to first grade without making a fuss about it, and she makes the prospect something worth the effort. Trepidation aside, this is a reminder of how much fun kindergarten was: your own cubbyhole, the Halloween parade, losing a tooth, “the last time we’ll ever sit criss-cross applesauce together.” But there is also the fledgling’s pleasure at shucking off the past—swabbing the desks, tossing out the stubbiest crayons, taking the pictures off the wall—and surging into the future. Then there is graduation itself: donning the mortarboards, trooping into the auditorium—“Mr. Meyer starts playing a serious song on the piano. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want to march”—which will likely have a few adult readers feeling the same. (Picture book. 4-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
This long-running British series (the first Little Princess book was published in 1986) has been adapted for television there. In this installment, her dad (in a jacket and tie, wearing his crown) has read her a story and is about to turn off the light when the Little Princess shouts, “I WANT MY LIGHT ON!”—with her entire face subsumed into one of those scarlet, tooth-edged mouths. She’s not afraid of the dark but of ghosts. Dad checks under the bed, and General, Admiral, Doctor and Maid assure her there are no ghosts. The Little Princess’s room is a bright yellow, but readers see glimpses of the castle’s arches and stone steps past her doorway—and then there is a little ghost behind her bedpost, with a skeleton toy the shape of Little Princess’s own stuffie. Ghost and Princess scare each other, and he dashes off to his mother, who, as she stirs her pot of frog, worm and spider stew, assures him that there are no such things as little girls.... The pictures are clear, bold and exaggerated to great humorous effect. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6443-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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