bookshelf

PRETTY UGLY

Name: PRETTY UGLY
Author: David Sedaris
ISBN: 9781662665271

by David Sedaris ; illustrated by Ian Falconer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 2024

Consider this little monstrosity a much-needed corrective to smarmy platitudes.

bookshelf

Beauty (and horror!) is in the eye of the beholder in essayist Sedaris’ disgustingly hilarious debut picture book, illustrated by the late Falconer.

Anna Von Ogre is usually a “good” little monster; she talks with her mouth full and stomps on flowers. Unfortunately, she’s also prone to “bad” behavior, such as making terrifyingly adorable faces. Though she’s been warned that someday one might stick, she ignores this advice, and the unthinkable happens. Stuck with the face of a kewpie doll, Anna is assured by her grandma that “Real beauty is on the inside.” But it isn’t until she takes that advice literally that she finds a fitting and grotesque solution to her problem. Sedaris shows a keen knack for page turns and timing. Adult readers will recognize hints of Maurice Sendak and William Steig and maybe even a smattering of Tim Burton in this remarkable outsider tale. Anna’s solution (to literally pull herself inside out) is rendered in hot pink, much in contrast with the subdued olive green and touches of red in the rest of the book. Be prepared for the shock of this image, sure to elicit both gasps of disgust and barks of surprised laughter. Kids will be transfixed. Adults should feel free to hand this book to anyone who feels picture books are too “safe” these days. Characters have skin the white of the page.

Consider this little monstrosity a much-needed corrective to smarmy platitudes. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024

ISBN: 9781662665271

Page Count: 32

Publisher: TOON Books/Astra Books for Young Readers

Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- PERSPECTIVES
With Children’s Books, the Weirder the Better

bookshelf

ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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...

bookshelf

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

bookshelf

RUBY FINDS A WORRY

From the Big Bright Feelings series

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...

bookshelf

Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.

Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)