by Aura Parker ; illustrated by Aura Parker ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 3, 2018
A lesson in camouflage and in welcoming new friends.
A stick insect’s camouflage makes it hard for her to find friends—or, really, for them to find her.
A variety of students arrive at Bug School for classes with Miss Orb, but not one notices Heidi, who is brown and thin, exactly like a twig or the class hat stand, which Miss Orb mistakes her for when she hangs up her weaving. Heidi’s camouflage is so good, in fact, that she’s unseen through the class counting lesson, lunch, and recess. Readers will empathize with her, her crossed arms (all four of them), hunched shoulders, and drooped face expressing her emotion clearly (if they can spy her!). It’s not until Miss Orb teaches weaving and Scarlett, a ladybug, goes searching for interesting items to add to her project that Heidi (mistaken for a twig) is finally discovered. Miss Orb has the perfect welcoming activity: weaving a colorful scarf for Heidi so she’s not so hidden. It’s just the ticket for helping her feel part of the group. Readers may note that games with her new friends seem to emphasize what tall and slender Heidi can do for them (reach things, be a bridge, etc.) rather than what she wants to do…except when it comes to playing hide-and-seek. Parker’s watercolor, colored pencil, artline pens, and digital compositions are quite delicate and detailed, her bug school delightfully analogous to children’s own.
A lesson in camouflage and in welcoming new friends. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2468-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
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by Maura Finn ; illustrated by Aura Parker
by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Chloe Dominique ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Pleasant enough but not particularly original.
Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor.
Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless. Children’s dreams can be in-the-moment ones—like purple ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry—or more far-ranging ones, such as growing tall enough to reach that high shelf easily or for hair that’s long enough to braid. It doesn’t matter, the author reassures young readers. Your aspirations will be realized, so don’t give up on them—just keep believing in them and, most of all, in yourself. Throughout, Kotb calls hope a rainbow, a feeling, a gift, and a wish. Hope is “new friends you’ll find— / friends who are loving and funny and kind.” Hope is “practicing your heart out, letter by letter.” The book’s overarching theme is upbeat, but its bouncy rhyming text is clumsy. The child-appealing illustrations are colorful and lively, though they have a generic look. The cast of wide-eyed characters is racially diverse; some have visible disabilities.
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593624128
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Suzie Mason
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Erin Kraan
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