A chuckle-worthy reminder that kids needn’t feel sheepish for showing their vulnerable sides.
Laughter isn’t always the best medicine.
Babette the sheep’s always giggling and acting silly. She enjoys making others laugh, too, so her pals call her Baa Haa. Babette doesn’t just chuckle when she hears something funny; she laughs when she’s surprised, excited, glad, nervous, or scared—even when she’s in trouble. Unfortunately, masking her discomfort with laughter is giving her a stomachache. She ignores her pain and tries different ploys to feel better. Nothing works. When her pals ask if she’s OK, Babette puts on a brave front but quickly breaks down. With friendly support, Babette’s knot unravels, and she giggles, confessing she’d felt “sheepish” for always concealing her emotions. She’s assured that, among friends, she needn’t pretend: “All feelings are welcome.” Thereafter, Babette always displays her feelings; so do her pals. “Because that’s what true friends do.” This tale should reassure children, though most kids probably won’t need reminders to display emotions; they’re usually transparent about their feelings. Still, youngsters who are reluctant to open up might feel less constrained after reading Babette’s story—and everyone will appreciate the laughter. Adults will have to explain the numerous puns, some based on sheep bleats, such as “baah-bles,” “baah-utiful,” and “Maah-nicures.” The humorous scribbly, cartoony illustrations, starring a googly-eyed all-animal cast, feature onomatopoeic sound effects representing laughter and are set in colored type.
A chuckle-worthy reminder that kids needn’t feel sheepish for showing their vulnerable sides. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781546134039
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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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This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez,...
Abuela is coming to stay with Mia and her parents. But how will they communicate if Mia speaks little Spanish and Abuela, little English? Could it be that a parrot named Mango is the solution?
The measured, evocative text describes how Mia’s español is not good enough to tell Abuela the things a grandmother should know. And Abuela’s English is too poquito to tell Mia all the stories a granddaughter wants to hear. Mia sets out to teach her Abuela English. A red feather Abuela has brought with her to remind her of a wild parrot that roosted in her mango trees back home gives Mia an idea. She and her mother buy a parrot they name Mango. And as Abuela and Mia teach Mango, and each other, to speak both Spanish and English, their “mouths [fill] with things to say.” The accompanying illustrations are charmingly executed in ink, gouache, and marker, “with a sprinkling of digital magic.” They depict a cheery urban neighborhood and a comfortable, small apartment. Readers from multigenerational immigrant families will recognize the all-too-familiar language barrier. They will also cheer for the warm and loving relationship between Abuela and Mia, which is evident in both text and illustrations even as the characters struggle to understand each other. A Spanish-language edition, Mango, Abuela, y yo, gracefully translated by Teresa Mlawer, publishes simultaneously.
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez, an honoree. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6900-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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