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DEAR MR. G

Name: DEAR MR. G
Author: Christine Evans
ISBN: 9781454944171

by Christine Evans ; illustrated by Gracey Zhang ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2023

A tender, vibrant portrait of intergenerational connection.

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The friendship between a young child and an elderly neighbor as told through their letters.

After kicking a soccer ball into Mr. Graham’s rose garden, almost 7-year-old Jackson sends an apology letter accompanied by a batch of scones. What starts with an accident blooms into a friendly back-and-forth correspondence about soccer, sweets, and the care of roses. With each small moment and thought shared, their friendship grows, and Mr. Graham fondly becomes “Mr. G.” Even when the neighbor moves to senior housing, the friendship continues. Jackson’s family transplants the roses to their yard and takes on their care; the two keep in touch via letters, and Jackson even visits. By nature of time and age, the correspondence must eventually cease. Jackson, however, learns a long-lasting lesson: Roses will bloom time and time again. With care and heart, Evans’ epistolary tale centers on a neighborly and intergenerational bond. Zhang’s art beautifully illustrates the warmth of their bond, the passing of time, and the ache of loss. A colorful palette and evocative strokes of the brush bring energy to Evans’ gentle and moving narrative about Black-presenting Mr. G (later portrayed using a wheelchair) and tan-skinned Jackson. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A tender, vibrant portrait of intergenerational connection. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 4, 2023

ISBN: 9781454944171

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Union Square Kids

Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
EVELYN THE ADVENTUROUS ENTOMOLOGIST
by Christine Evans ; illustrated by Yas Imamura

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SPAGHETTI HEAD & CHICKEN FINGERS

by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal ; illustrated by Erica Salcedo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2026

Wild and wacky.

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A picture book from the comedy duo known as Rhett & Link, creators of the online juggernaut Good Mythical Morning.

Lumo is obsessed with chicken fingers; Saffy, who is new to town and anxious about starting school, finds comfort in the only food she likes: buttered spaghetti. The night before the first day of school, a thunderstorm rages, and each kid makes a wish—“to have chicken fingers at school,” in Lumo’s case; Saffy wishes for “the first thing off the top of her head: buttered spaghetti.” File under “Be careful what you wish for.” Lumo’s and Saffy’s respective physical changes (chicken fingers for fingers, spaghetti for hair) make navigating school a challenge but bring them together in the cafeteria, where they enjoy some new foods—and their new friendship. The plotting could have been sharper: Why do the kids’ bodies suddenly return to normal? And couldn’t the authors have thought up a less old-hat story-ending punch line? Nevertheless, McLaughlin and Neal get by on their charm, and the plot sets up some funny visuals. Salcedo’s cartoony Photoshop art features well-chosen artifacts from a typical kid’s life and captures the mortification of not fitting in, which will be familiar even to readers who have never experienced breaded fingers or noodle hair. Lumo is brown-skinned and dark-haired; Saffy is pale-skinned with disheveled reddish-brown hair.

Wild and wacky. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 16, 2026

ISBN: 9780063474154

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperPop/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)