A brief, accessible book that would be a good tool for elementary school guidance counselors.
In this debut picture book for kids, author E-Collen and illustrator Coddington, both educators, stress the importance of trusting adults with secrets involving abuse.
The “monster” in the protagonist’s house has been there since she was 5. Coddington portrays a Freddy Krueger–like silhouette in solid black against the background of a house’s interior. In the opening, the protagonist is shown hugging her knees, hiding beneath a table. At first, she explains, the monster gave her gifts and seemed nice. He said she was “special” but encouraged her to keep secrets from her mother. When the girl didn’t want to do unspecified “things,” she says, the monster became angry and wouldn’t leave her alone. One day at school, her teacher reads a book about “different types of touching.” Encouraged, the girl trusts her teacher with the truth. The girl, the monster, and the teacher are depicted as Caucasian, but Coddington briefly portrays classmates with other skin tones. Young readers will likely want to know if the girl gets rescued from the monster, but the book leaves the question open. E-Collen’s childlike, first-person narration feels authentic, and although Coddington’s silhouettes are scary, readers likely won’t find them overly threatening. This book may help endangered children open up about their experiences.
A brief, accessible book that would be a good tool for elementary school guidance counselors.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3767-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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