An informative but readable book to help kids mitigate their anger.
An angry child learns to clearly articulate his emotions in Plaskon’s picture book.
Henry is the victim of a grave injustice (or so he thinks): His mom has just baked his favorite pie and won’t let him have any. In his fury, he throws his toy truck before having it taken away. He escapes outside after this incident to complain to Bella, an elegant black-and-white horse in a nearby pasture, and her punny friend Bird (almost everything she says is bird related). Helpfully, Bella is an emotionally intelligent animal who gives clear, therapist-like advice. “‘Getting angry isn’t bad or wrong… It’s a normal and natural emotion we all feel sometimes. But it’s important to let anger out the right way.” She introduces Henry to several techniques for mastering and communicating his emotions, including box breathing, cool-down counting, and using an emotion wheel. Bird serves as comic relief, making worm jokes to keep the conversation light. Henry takes these lessons back home, where he reconciles with his mother and learns the reason behind her pie restrictions. The first installment in Plaskon’s debut Bella and Bird the Emotion Explorers series, this picture book will best serve young audiences as a narrative-based tool for social-emotional learning. It tends to be instructive without being pedantic, thanks to Bird’s silly but amusing commentary. Ravotti’s illustrations feature soft lines, gentle colors, and useful diagrams that invite the reader into a calm, self-reflective space.
An informative but readable book to help kids mitigate their anger.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9798987268414
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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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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