Two friends take a break from exploring to have a big snack in this story told in a mixture of English and French.
“Paul and Pierre are great explorers. Ils sont aussi des amis. Friends and explorers.” Instead of presenting a bilingual story with line-by-line translation, this book alternates entire sentences in each language for a unique structure that keeps readers on their toes. When Paul gets hungry, they leave their (imagined) Himalayan trek to see what’s in Pierre’s kitchen, where they begin stacking all sorts of ingredients into a tall sandwich: “Ham, cheese, mayonnaise. Du beurre, de la laitue, un concombre.” Between the illustrations and the English clues, English-speaking readers are bound to pick up a few words and phrases in French, but only the very curious will be up for the multiple readings that will truly bear fruit in that regard. Paul, a pale boy with red hair and freckles, speaks English, while Pierre and his mother, both black, speak French—but all characters understand one another. The childlike illustrations combine the boys’ imaginations with their real world: The sandwich becomes a mountain, which finally topples in the titular avalanche, becoming Paul’s least favorite meal (salad!). While the correspondence between pictured items and their words is not always perfectly obvious, the goal here prioritizes fun over explicit instruction.
Very silly and very smart, this distinctive find is worth checking out. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77147-327-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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Children realize their dreams one step at a time in this story about growth mindset.
A child crashes and damages a new bicycle on a dark, rainy day. Attempting a wheelie, the novice cyclist falls onto the sidewalk, grimacing, and, having internalized this setback as failure, vows to never ride again but to “walk…forever.” Then the unnamed protagonist happens upon a glowing orb in the forest, a “thought rearranger-er”—a luminous pink fairy called the Magical Yet. This Yet reminds the child of past accomplishments and encourages perseverance. The second-person rhyming couplets remind readers that mistakes are part of learning and that with patience and effort, children can achieve. Readers see the protagonist learn to ride the bike before a flash-forward shows the child as a capable college graduate confidently designing a sleek new bike. This book shines with diversity: racial, ethnic, ability, and gender. The gender-indeterminate protagonist has light brown skin and exuberant curly locks; Amid the bustling secondary cast, one child uses a prosthesis, and another wears hijab. At no point in the text is the Yet defined as a metaphor for a growth mindset; adults reading with younger children will likely need to clarify this abstract lesson. The artwork is powerful and detailed—pay special attention to the endpapers that progress to show the Yet at work.
A solid if message-driven conversation starter about the hard parts of learning. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-02562-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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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 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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