A barnyard parable sure to lighten bad mooods.
This bovine’s having a bad day!
Little Mootilda wakes up with straw in her hair. When her moomaw gives her a frozen treat to cheer her up, it falls on the ground after one lick. “Her moomaw said, ‘That’s terri-bull, / but don’t stay in and mope.’ / She smoothed her cowlick, smooched her cheek, / and said, ‘Go jump some rope!’ ” Mootilda jumps rope with some other calves. That seems to help until she trips and kicks a bucket of milk, sending it flying and tangling everyone in the rope. One of the calves suggests a swim with sheep, but a big, splashy belly-flop leaves Mootilda in her bad mood. Cycling with pigs and playing basketball with horses end just as disastrously. Four chickens tell her about their bad day: A flying bucket destroyed their painting; a big splash drowned their sand castle….They “cow-miserate” and get some ice cream. She doesn’t realize it, but the conversation has helped. Now when another mischance befalls her ice cream, she laughs—her bad mood has gone. After a few more cow puns, she pulls up a couple bales and opens a “cow-nseling” service. Little ones might need a bit of help understanding Mootilda’s revelation, but Ranucci’s bright illustrations of wide-eyed farm critters are engaging and lively, and the details demand repeated readings. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 79% of actual size.)
A barnyard parable sure to lighten bad mooods. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4998-1086-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez,...
Abuela is coming to stay with Mia and her parents. But how will they communicate if Mia speaks little Spanish and Abuela, little English? Could it be that a parrot named Mango is the solution?
The measured, evocative text describes how Mia’s español is not good enough to tell Abuela the things a grandmother should know. And Abuela’s English is too poquito to tell Mia all the stories a granddaughter wants to hear. Mia sets out to teach her Abuela English. A red feather Abuela has brought with her to remind her of a wild parrot that roosted in her mango trees back home gives Mia an idea. She and her mother buy a parrot they name Mango. And as Abuela and Mia teach Mango, and each other, to speak both Spanish and English, their “mouths [fill] with things to say.” The accompanying illustrations are charmingly executed in ink, gouache, and marker, “with a sprinkling of digital magic.” They depict a cheery urban neighborhood and a comfortable, small apartment. Readers from multigenerational immigrant families will recognize the all-too-familiar language barrier. They will also cheer for the warm and loving relationship between Abuela and Mia, which is evident in both text and illustrations even as the characters struggle to understand each other. A Spanish-language edition, Mango, Abuela, y yo, gracefully translated by Teresa Mlawer, publishes simultaneously.
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez, an honoree. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6900-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
