CAPTAIN STARFISH

Name: CAPTAIN STARFISH
Author: Davina Bell
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2837-2

by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Allison Colpoys ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2018

This gentle story ably helps fill a need in children’s literature and will help comfort small audiences with their own big...

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Bell’s debut picture book quietly shows a child working through his anxieties.

Alfie, a peach-colored child with shaggy brown hair and downcast eyes, is no stranger to “that feeling.” He worries about party games, is too afraid about losing races to even run in them, and doesn’t think he is “brave enough to be Captain Starfish” in his school’s Underwater Dress-Up Parade. The morning after an evocative dream in which “he was carrying the ocean, all on his own,” Alfie just can’t muster up the courage to go to school. His understanding mother takes him to the aquarium, where he’s at first chagrined by a showoff-y starfish but then momentarily comforted by a shy, smiling clown fish. Subdued blue and orange illustrations, with lots of white space, match the emotional pitch of the story. Alfie doesn’t make it to the parade that year, but “it doesn’t matter”; he decides that next year he will “dress up as a clown fish.” Alfie’s success, aided by loving and patient parents, provides a model for children struggling with anxiety and assures them of their ultimate worth and capability.

This gentle story ably helps fill a need in children’s literature and will help comfort small audiences with their own big fears. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 20, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-4197-2837-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT SURE WHAT TO DO
by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL OF THE FACTORS OF WHY I LOVE TRACTORS
by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Jenny Løvlie

- BOOK REVIEW
UNDER THE LOVE UMBRELLA
by Davina Bell ; illustrated by Allison Colpoys

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Awards & Accolades

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15

Our Verdict

GET IT

New York Times Bestseller

DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE SLEIGH!

From the Pigeon series

by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023

A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.

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Awards & Accolades

Likes

15

Our Verdict

GET IT

New York Times Bestseller

Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.

This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”

A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781454952770

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Union Square Kids

Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PIGEON WON'T COUNT TO 10!
by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems

- BOOK REVIEW
WILL THE PIGEON GRADUATE?
by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems

- BOOK REVIEW
ME AND OTHER BUNNIES
by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems

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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...

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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)