Still, Martha’s excitement is infectious, and younger siblings should feel it as well as newly minted students. (Picture...
With an enthusiasm that virtually oozes off the pages and infects readers, Martha tells readers all about herself and her preparations for her first day of school.
While many going-to-school books are about jitters or routines or school supplies, this one is in a class by itself, focusing on Martha’s close relationship with the younger brothers she’ll be leaving at home and on all her favorite things. Martha’s exuberance for her possessions can be likened to Lilly with her purple plastic purse or Olivia and all her outfits. The morning of Martha’s first day of school is a busy one as she tries to balance her brothers’ need for guidance (and reassurance) with packing her backpack, a hysterical pursuit that has Martha stuffing in everything but the kitchen sink before her mother helps her pare it down. The book ends on just the right note: A school-loving Martha returns home to join her beloved brothers in their Happy Bunny Club, which she helped them set up that morning. Vulliamy keeps the energy high in her cartoon illustrations, which brim with color and combine labeled vignettes (almost like rebuses) with sometimes-overbusy spot illustrations. The artwork is nicely accented with collaged items, one slight misstep being the sign that Martha pens, with too-perfect spelling and penmanship, for the new club.
Still, Martha’s excitement is infectious, and younger siblings should feel it as well as newly minted students. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4976-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 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
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