A sweet and empowering poem.
An affirmation for Asian American youth.
Scenes of outstretched hands reaching for one another and an Asian parent gardening with a child greet readers. “You are life,” opens the poem, going on to add, “You are not a virus. / You are a seed. When you were born, / you saved me.” Above an apartment window, an expectant couple waits in anticipation as the text reads, “You are not forever foreign. / You are Immigrant. / Born here. / Adopted. / Refugee, you fled a war.” Li layers lines, blocks, and shapes of colors to create eye-popping fields filled with noodles, onigiri, and children. After touching on a myriad of interests and cultural references, the tone becomes more rousing, challenging model minority stereotypes and insisting that “You are not invisible. / You are not silent. / You are hand-painted signs, / people marching together in the street / for a more just world.” The paths paved by ancestors are also acknowledged. As Phi discusses the silly, the funny, the serious, and the inspiring, the overarching, stirring message is that the possibilities for the future are endless. In an author’s note, Phi reveals the verses were written in response to the recent rise of anti-Asian hate. Asian children take center stage, and Vietnamese is incorporated in the poem; kids of other ethnic backgrounds are also depicted, and characters vary in terms of ability. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet and empowering poem. (Poetry. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68446-482-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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