A thoughtful, age-appropriate discussion of decision-making that could well become a favorite.
Using fewer than 200 words and soft watercolor, pen, and ink illustrations, Murguia creates a safe place for a child-centered conversation about decision-making.
“How do you choose a favorite, a best?” the text inquires. “Do you examine, determine, inspect, / measure, and weigh before you select?” Or are you “the sort who follows your heart?” Maybe “you follow along and go with your friends? / Or are you the type who starts your own trends?” Young readers will see themselves in the everyday decisions pondered by characters about a favorite color, pet, sweet treat, and activity with friends. Imagine choosing a hat that’s “the real you” from among a headdress of peacock feathers, a royal fascinator decorated with a dove, a castle-shaped turban, a gardener’s hat (complete with a shy groundhog), and others. Or, empoweringly, deciding to skip the reptile house at the zoo because reptiles aren’t your favorite. Could having more than one favorite be the best choice? It might. This quiet conversation closes with realistic, hopeful messages: “A favorite can change…if you re-select,” and “there are so many things in this world you can love.” The primary cast of children depicted consists of two black kids and three white ones, the whimsical scenarios they star in easy to interpret and sometimes gently Seussian.
A thoughtful, age-appropriate discussion of decision-making that could well become a favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0446-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.
Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621110
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
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