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SCARLET'S TALE

Name: SCARLET'S TALE
Author: Audrey Vernick
ISBN: 978-1-368-04308-3

by Audrey Vernick ; illustrated by Jarvis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 2021

A young girl’s difference unites a community.

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A young human girl with an unusual physical feature gains acceptance.

At Scarlet’s birth, her parents counted: “Two eyes. One nose. Ten fingers. Ten toes. / Also, one long, fluffy, fuzzy, furry tail. That was a surprise.” Her parents shower her with love and accept that her foxlike tail means custom-made clothing and keeping low-lying surfaces clear of objects. But school is another matter. People stare and point, and her classroom has not been adapted to her swishing tail, which inadvertently knocks objects about. The next day is especially lonely until she gets on the swings, which always make her happy and cause her tail to wag. Callie and Josh decide to join her, and the three become inseparable, gradually turning wagging—whether it be tail or bottom—into their own happy, welcoming language. And because “Happiness can be kind of contagious,” the school and then the whole town take to wagging their butts when happy—the street scene is quite amusing. Scarlet and her family present White, as does Callie, while Josh presents Black; students and the townsfolk are diverse. Bright background colors and simple details in the illustrations keep the focus on emotions and interactions. Even tailless children will empathize with Scarlet, though it’s a bit sad that others’ acceptance is so important to her sense of self-worth.

A young girl’s difference unites a community. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-368-04308-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR

Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORLD'S BEST CLASS PLANT
by Liz Garton Scanlon & Audrey Vernick ; illustrated by Lynnor Bontigao

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL STAR
by Audrey Vernick ; illustrated by Cannaday Chapman

- BOOK REVIEW
AFTER THE WORST THING HAPPENS
by Audrey Vernick

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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RUBY FINDS A WORRY

From the Big Bright Feelings series

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...

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Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.

Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)