A relatable, constructive story emphasizing elements of positivity and mindfulness.
Gregory’s picture book demonstrates ways kids can counteract negative thoughts.
An unnamed girl’s mom asks her to complete tasks, like making a card for her grandfather and baking muffins for school. Although the illustrations show her reticently partaking in the activities, the girl responds to her mother, “Okay, but I’m NOT very good at it.” When Mom (who is absent from the illustrations) asks why she feels that way, the child says, “Because that’s what my brain said.” Her mother implores her to listen to her heart instead, explaining “It speaks very softly, like dandelion seeds landing on grass….Your BRAIN might try to BUTT in, but don’t pay any attention to it.” The girl attempts to complete more tasks, but she tries to alter her immediate negative thoughts. For example, as she builds a model airplane, she “talks back” to her brain (“You don’t get to be the boss all the time.”) The child explains that now she listens to her heart: “It doesn’t matter if I’m NOT very good at something…the most important thing is to just try.” Miller’s colorful pencil illustrations mostly echo the text, offering interesting background scenes such as grassy fields and dandelions. Some offer subtext. For example, the child is shown smiling alongside her completed projects, as when she gives a thumbs-up while holding a tray of baked muffins. The child has dark hair and eyes and presents White. Gregory offers actionable, kid-friendly tools to help readers enhance their self-esteem in a plausible and positive way.
A relatable, constructive story emphasizing elements of positivity and mindfulness.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-5255-7645-4
Page Count: 30
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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