by David A. Adler ; illustrated by Sam Ricks ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2015
A diverse cast of football players, including a pigtailed girl and a proudly centered African-American protagonist, adds...
Mo is one football-crazy little boy.
Using a football for a pillow, waking up to his mom’s calls of football plays—Mo’s whole life revolves around the pigskin. Even though he is younger and smaller than the other kids on the team, he plays for the Robins. He mostly sits on the bench next to Coach Steve, but he still lives to play. One day during a game, Coach Steve butters the ball to teach Mo hand skills, and the opposing team sees him bobble the ball. The coach puts Mo in but tells the Robins not to throw to Mo, causing the other team’s players to mock the boy. Having cagily established Mo as no threat, the coach then engineers Mo’s capture of the game-winning throw. While the ample font, recognizable words, and amusing full-color cartoon illustrations make Mo’s story seem to be a good fit for new readers, the plot is confusing in parts. Most children know that butter does not easily wash off with cold water and that football teams do not include children of wildly varying ages. When Mo gives credit to his coach for the winning play, Coach Steve says something that no coach of a team sport ever says: “No....You won the game.”
A diverse cast of football players, including a pigtailed girl and a proudly centered African-American protagonist, adds interest, but the plot’s flaws may put off even young football fanatics. (Early reader. 4-7)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01631-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Chloe Dominique ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Pleasant enough but not particularly original.
Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor.
Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless. Children’s dreams can be in-the-moment ones—like purple ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry—or more far-ranging ones, such as growing tall enough to reach that high shelf easily or for hair that’s long enough to braid. It doesn’t matter, the author reassures young readers. Your aspirations will be realized, so don’t give up on them—just keep believing in them and, most of all, in yourself. Throughout, Kotb calls hope a rainbow, a feeling, a gift, and a wish. Hope is “new friends you’ll find— / friends who are loving and funny and kind.” Hope is “practicing your heart out, letter by letter.” The book’s overarching theme is upbeat, but its bouncy rhyming text is clumsy. The child-appealing illustrations are colorful and lively, though they have a generic look. The cast of wide-eyed characters is racially diverse; some have visible disabilities.
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593624128
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Suzie Mason
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
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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