A bold and engaging story that shows the hardships of displacement through a child’s eyes.
A young refugee girl leaves home amid the Armenian genocide in this picture book from the Corts.
The book opens on Anoosh traveling by mule cart with her mother and younger siblings toward Aleppo, Syria. They’re being forced to leave their home in Aintab, Turkey, to meet Anoosh’s father as World War I rages. Along the journey, Anoosh reflects on the home they had to abandon: everything from their beloved apricot tree to the porcelain doll left behind at the window. The Armenian language appears throughout the book, which adds a linguistic and cultural depth. Traditions such as reading coffee grounds sit alongside more difficult moments, like the family’s recollections of soldiers taking over their home. The prose is packed with both melancholy and hope as the protagonist comes to terms with leaving the family’s old life behind. At times, the creative spacing of the text appears awkward or creates an unnecessary lull in the tension, yet the haunting and beautiful illustrations balance these flaws out, especially a particularly well-rendered nocturnal scene of the family underneath the stars. A joyful reunion at the end ultimately circles back to the story’s main message to “always look for hope.” Though the story includes historical context and vocabulary at the end, the text could use more historical background, but it still offers a meaningful narrative introduction to Armenian history and culture.
A bold and engaging story that shows the hardships of displacement through a child’s eyes.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798999182128
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Fig Mint Press
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle...
Making things is difficult work. Readers will recognize the stages of this young heroine’s experience as she struggles to realize her vision.
First comes anticipation. The artist/engineer is spotted jauntily pulling a wagonload of junkyard treasures. Accompanied by her trusty canine companion, she begins drawing plans and building an assemblage. The narration has a breezy tone: “[S]he makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!” The colorful caricatures and creations contrast with the digital black outlines on a white background that depict an urban neighborhood. Intermittent blue-gray panels break up the white expanses on selected pages showing sequential actions. When the first piece doesn’t turn out as desired, the protagonist tries again, hoping to achieve magnificence. A model of persistence, she tries many adjustments; the vocabulary alone offers constructive behaviors: she “tinkers,” “wrenches,” “fiddles,” “examines,” “stares” and “tweaks.” Such hard work, however, combines with disappointing results, eventually leading to frustration, anger and injury. Explosive emotions are followed by defeat, portrayed with a small font and scaled-down figures. When the dog, whose expressions have humorously mirrored his owner’s through each phase, retrieves his leash, the resulting stroll serves them well. A fresh perspective brings renewed enthusiasm and—spoiler alert—a most magnificent scooter sidecar for a loyal assistant.
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle characterization for maximum delight. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55453-704-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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