An upbeat, if slightly uneven, ode to food production with bright, enthusiastic imagery.
A spirited, classroom-ready tribute to farmers and the “simple gifts” they bring.
Inspired by the 19th-century Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” attributed to Joseph Brackett, this reimagining adds new lyrics to celebrate gratitude and community in a lively school performance. Pattison gives the timeless work a bright, kid-friendly spin with words that honor hard work and the harvest. Students sing, act, and dance their appreciation for farmers in a cheerful ode to those who nourish the world. Lines such as “We’ll fill with gratitude for each farmer we meet” lend the story a feeling of warmth, grounding its message in heartfelt simplicity. However, although the new lyrics generally work well, the book has a few issues: Pattison’s low-key text sometimes feels mismatched with Kole’s lively, energetic full-color illustrations, and some lines read as clipped or rushed—making it occasionally awkward as a read-aloud, especially given the slow rhythm of the familiar tune. Still, the cartoon-style artwork effectively captures joyful children in colorful costumes, leaping and twirling with community pride. Overall, the book offers educators a thoughtful way to integrate music, movement, and social studies into a meaningful lesson about agriculture.
An upbeat, if slightly uneven, ode to food production with bright, enthusiastic imagery.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781629443140
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Mims House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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