A playful allegory of self-expression and acceptance.
Unice was born into a family of rhinoceroses but feels like a unicorn inside and, with the help of a new friend, embraces that identity in Esmail’s picture book.
Everyone around Unice tells them that she’s a rhino, but when alone, Unice sees a beautiful unicorn reflected in the mirror. That sense of identity brings joy until the rest of the family condemns it: “Unice, we all agree. You look like a rhino. You are a rhino.” The thought of not being a unicorn makes Unice miserable, but then she meets Snyder, who she initially thinks is a tiger but who identifies as a snow leopard. Following Snyder’s example, Unice once again embraces her unicorn-horned self. Esmail and illustrator Cooke craft a beautiful story. The writing is simple and should be easy for independent readers to follow, and plenty of white space leaves room for text and vibrant rainbow spatters that play across the full-color painterly illustrations whenever Unice or Snyder assert their inner identities. These bursts of color effectively contrast with the grayness of Unice’s family and their inculcating, off-page calls of “That’s what rhinos do”; also notable is the murky, watercolor smudge that accompanies Unice when she briefly despairs. The effect is striking, and the message, while unabashedly overt, is one that will stay with children.
A playful allegory of self-expression and acceptance.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781643436364
Page Count: -
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, if oft-told, story.
A plush toy rabbit bonds with a boy and watches him grow into adulthood.
The boy receives the blue bunny for his birthday and immediately becomes attached to it. Unbeknownst to him, the ungendered bunny is sentient; it engages in dialogue with fellow toys, giving readers insight into its thoughts. The bunny's goal is to have grand adventures when the boy grows up and no longer needs its company. The boy spends many years playing imaginatively with the bunny, holding it close during both joyous and sorrowful times and taking it along on family trips. As a young man, he marries, starts a family, and hands over the beloved toy to his toddler-aged child in a crib. The bunny's epiphany—that he does not need to wait for great adventures since all his dreams have already come true in the boy's company—is explicitly stated in the lengthy text, which is in many ways similar to The Velveteen Rabbit (1922). The illustrations, which look hand-painted but were digitally created, are moderately sentimental with an impressionistic dreaminess (one illustration even includes a bunny-shaped cloud in the sky) and a warm glow throughout. The depiction of a teenage male openly displaying his emotions—hugging his beloved childhood toy for example—is refreshing. All human characters present as White expect for one of the boy’s friends who is Black.
A sweet, if oft-told, story. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72825-448-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
A must-have book about the power of one’s voice and the friendships that emerge when you are yourself.
School-age children encounter and overcome feelings of difference from their peers in the latest picture book from Woodson.
This nonlinear story centers on Angelina, with big curly hair and brown skin, as she begins the school year with a class share-out of summer travels. Text and illustrations effectively work together to convey her feelings of otherness as she reflects on her own summer spent at home: “What good is this / when others were flying,” she ponders while leaning out her city window forlornly watching birds fly past to seemingly faraway places. López’s incorporation of a ruler for a door, table, and tree into the illustrations creatively extends the metaphor of measuring up to others. Three other children—Rigoberto, a recent immigrant from Venezuela; a presumably Korean girl with her “too strange” lunch of kimchi, meat, and rice; and a lonely white boy in what seems to be a suburb—experience more-direct teasing for their outsider status. A bright jewel-toned palette and clever details, including a literal reflection of a better future, reveal hope and pride in spite of the taunting. This reassuring, lyrical book feels like a big hug from a wise aunt as she imparts the wisdom of the world in order to calm trepidatious young children: One of these things is not like the other, and that is actually what makes all the difference.
A must-have book about the power of one’s voice and the friendships that emerge when you are yourself. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-24653-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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