While it won’t find much of an audience beyond already interested tourists, this guide to Milwaukee is a cut above its ilk,...
An unexpectedly attractive addition to the standard picture-book travel guide.
Lulu, a young fox, and her penguin companion, Pufferson, one day receive a letter from her aunt Fancy. Sending them tickets for the trip, her aunt encourages the duo to take the ferry to Milwaukee to join Lulu’s cousin Rocky for a three-day sightseeing extravaganza. Staying at the real-life, ritzy Pfister Hotel, the three waste no time seeing the sights. For exercise they rent canoes, ascend a lighthouse, and rent a surrey bike. Food consists of fried cheese curds, a fish fry, and water from the local “bubblers.” The three check out the Milwaukee Art Museum, the lakefront, a statue of Fonzie, and even a brewery (what it brews goes unmentioned, and Lulu, Rocky, and Pufferson do not seem to imbibe). While the book does not aim beyond its stated purpose of introducing kids to Milwaukee’s attractions, the art and writing set it apart from most tourism texts. Graef’s delicate and detailed illustrations are as comfortable replicating a Chihuly as they are portraying a polka band, and the all-animal cast is adorable. The text is a standard litany of place names, but it does take particular care to make the city sound as appealing as possible to small children. Additional fact pages about the city can be found at the end of the book.
While it won’t find much of an audience beyond already interested tourists, this guide to Milwaukee is a cut above its ilk, and it bodes well for the rest of the series. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-53411-017-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
Young readers will be “antsy” to join the hero on her satisfying escapade.
An ant explores her world.
Addie Ant’s ready for adventure. Despite some trepidation about leaving the Tomato Bed, where she lives with her aunt, she plucks up her courage and ventures forth across the garden to the far side of the shed. On her journey, she meets her pal Lewis Ladybug, who greets her warmly, points the way, and offers sage advice. When Addie arrives at her destination, she’s welcomed by lovely Beatrix Butterfly and enjoys an “ant-tastic” helping of watermelon. Beatrix also provides Addie with take-home treats and a map for the “Cricket Express,” which will take her straight home. Arriving at the terminal, Addie’s delighted to meet another friend, Cleo Cricket, whose carriage service returns Addie home in “two hops.” After eating a warm tomato soup dinner, Addie falls asleep and dreams of future exploits. Adorable though not terribly original, this story brims with sensuous pleasures, both textual and visual. Kids who declare that they dislike fruits or veggies may find their mouths watering at the mentions and sights of luscious tomatoes, peas, beans, watermelons, berries, and other foodstuffs; insect-averse readers may likewise think differently after encountering these convivial, wide-eyed characters. And those flowers and herbs everywhere! The highlights are the colors that burst from the pages. Addie’s an endearing, empowering character who reassures children they’ll be able to take those first independent steps successfully.
Young readers will be “antsy” to join the hero on her satisfying escapade. (author’s note about ants) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781797228914
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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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