Brightened by sunny, simply drawn cartoons featuring people of several ages and skin shades, this introduction to the reproductive organs is designed as much to allay parental anxiety as to provide answers to younger children’s questions. Saltz, a practicing psychiatrist, describes the male and female set-ups in a light, relaxed tone, suggesting that it’s better to use specific terms rather than euphemisms for visible organs, and tracking physical changes from infancy to adulthood. She steers clear of topics deemed beyond her child audience’s understanding, such as sexual intercourse, or stages of fetal development, and backs up vague allusions to masturbation and privacy boundaries with a closing note in much smaller type. Though urethras are repeatedly mentioned but never illustrated, there are no lists of further information sources, and a description of sperm as looking “sort of like tadpoles” may leave some misapprehensions about their size, this makes an adequate discussion starter for parents with children not yet up to the level of detail in Robie H. Harris’s It’s So Amazing! (1999). (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-525-47389-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
A solid introduction to the ninth month of the year and all the joys it ushers in.
Martin’s latest in a series that personifies the months of the year follows a young girl who exemplifies all things fall.
Tan-skinned, bespectacled September is all about autumn, from the cozy sweater she wears to the red and green leaves tangled in her long hair. She’s thrilled to start school with Ms. Seasons, her new teacher, who gives the class an exciting new assignment: embarking on a fall nature watch and checking off signs of the new season. Friends August and October accompany September as they observe apple trees, a campfire, a scarecrow (and a crow), and, finally, the elusive fall-colored leaf. September, who has a cochlear implant and is of Latine heritage, also tells her classmates—and readers—about other important things going on this month. She gives presentations on Deaf Awareness Month (and goes over the American Sign Language alphabet) and Hispanic Heritage Month (and teaches her classmates the phrase “Hola, amigo”). The book closes with discussion questions, a prompt for readers, and an applesauce recipe. Though light on tension or conflict, the story serves its purpose well: introducing children to the hallmarks of the season. Kids nervous about back-to-school—another marker of September—will feel soothed by the protagonist’s sunny outlook. Martin’s illustrations appear digital and are rife with autumnal elements; September’s design is a particular highlight.
A solid introduction to the ninth month of the year and all the joys it ushers in. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781464261633
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
Essentially a follow-up to Robert Kraus’s Leo the Late Bloomer (1971) and like tales of developing competency, this follows an exuberant child from morning wash-up to lights out at night, cataloguing the tasks and skills he has mastered. Activities include dressing himself and joining in school activities, choosing his own books, helping with dinner and other household responsibilities, and taking a bath alone before bedtime. In Aliki’s sunny, simplified pictures, it’s a child’s world, seen from low angles and with adults putting in only occasional appearances. Like the lad, the fitfully rhymed text gallops along, sometimes a little too quickly—many illustrations are matched to just a word or two, so viewers aren’t always given much time to absorb one image before being urged on to the next—but underscoring the story’s bustling energy. Young readers and pre-readers will respond enthusiastically to this child’s proud self-assurance, and be prompted to take stock of their own abilities too. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-028929-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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