Celebratory and affirming.
A beloved song gets a jubilant glow-up.
Everyday moments and landmark events spark joyful revelry in a picture book that encourages readers to “find determination / deep down in your soul” and let their inner light shine. Both instructive (“Give both praise and thanks / before you take your bow”) and ripe with attestations (“You kept pressing on”), the text has a lilting cadence that lends a cheerfulness to the overall tone, though neither words nor images shy away from acknowledging struggle (a reference to “those who overcame” is paired with images of Rosa Parks and an enslaved person working the fields). Rendered in a solid, vibrant palette, Andrews’ flat digital illustrations showcase a fully Black cast of characters who feature a range of brown skin tones, ages, and abilities; several notable African Americans, including Shirley Chisholm and Frederick Douglass, are spotlighted. The refrain of “Let it shine” appears in triplicate on each right-hand page, each time in a distinct and dynamic array amid the surrounding art. As Children’s Literature Legacy and Newbery Honor–winning author Weatherford explains in an appended note, the text is a creative expansion on the lyrics of the American spiritual “This Little Light of Mine.” Intended “to mark milestones and achievements,” the book skews potentially repetitive for a read-aloud but seems destined to thrive as a graduation present. Additional backmatter includes a brief timeline and list of noted artists’ recordings of the song.
Celebratory and affirming. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593805756
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 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
BOOK REVIEW
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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