by Deborah Stevenson ; illustrated by Stella Mongodi ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2021
A genuinely tender and charmingly illustrated story of friendship, empathy, and memory.
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A rat lays claim to a girl’s special hat until her pal steps in to help in this picture book.
Good friends Nora and Lenny, armed with allowance money they’ve saved, set out on a cool, breezy day for the movie theater. Lenny is fascinated by the green fedora Nora is wearing and asks to try it on. Before he can return it, the wind whisks it away and out of reach: “the hat whirled and twirled through the air like a top /...out over the river, the wind let it drop.” A river rat grabs the waterborne hat and refuses to give it up, and the kids are surprised when they learn the reason for the refusal. However, the fedora means a lot to Nora—the author’s hint as to the reason why is subtle and touching—and Lenny takes unselfish action to help his friend, kindly negotiating with the cranky rodent for the hat’s return. Veteran children’s author Stevenson’s active, rhyming text tells a tale that’s sweet but never cloying, thanks in part to the inclusion of the comically acerbic rat. Artist Mongodi complements the book’s sentiment and humor with the soft, watercolor resonance of illustrations that are alive with detail, including repeat appearances by a certain sea gull that young readers will discover.
A genuinely tender and charmingly illustrated story of friendship, empathy, and memory.Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73482-422-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frog Prince Books
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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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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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