Positive advice for helping kids set and meet personal goals.
A duckling is afraid to try new things but learns how to make plans in this children’s picture book.
Little One, a newly hatched duck, lacks the courage to attempt things it's never done, including walking and swimming. Its mother points out advantages of learning new skills, and teaches Little One a simple method: “First say, I can. / Then make a plan. / Get right to it. / And then you’ll do it!” Every time, Little One discovers that when it envisions success and imagines fun, it’s easy to learn to walk, swim, and fly—even if it takes a few tries. Little One goes on to attempt horseback riding and ice skating as well as new languages and earns a new name: “Can Do.” The text is by child psychiatrist Morty Sosland (Can Do and Friends to the Rescue, 2013, etc.); Esther Deblinger (Trauma-Focused CBT for Children and Adolescents, 2019, etc.), his wife, is a clinical psychologist who contributes teacher and parent guidelines for using the book. Many kids need help tackling new challenges, and the book provides helpful modeling of a process for planning, visualizing, and achieving success in kid-friendly language. The appealing illustrations by Sarah Sosland have cartoony charm, nicely capturing Can Do’s activities and expressions, as when the duck is determined to learn to fly.
Positive advice for helping kids set and meet personal goals.Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9768384-4-9
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Playful, engaging, and full of opportunities for empathy—a raucous storytime hit.
Readers try to dislodge a monster from the pages of this emotive and interactive read-aloud.
“OH NO!” the story starts. “There’s a monster in your book!” The blue, round-headed monster with pink horns and a pink-tipped tail can be seen cheerfully munching on the opening page. “Let’s try to get him out,” declares the narrator. Readers are encouraged to shake, tilt, and spin the book around, while the monster careens around an empty background looking scared and lost. Viewers are exhorted to tickle the monster’s feet, blow on the page, and make a really loud noise. Finally, shockingly, it works: “Now he’s in your room!” But clearly a monster in your book is safer than a monster in your room, so he’s coaxed back into the illustrations and lulled to sleep, curled up under one page and cuddling a bit of another like a child with their blankie. The monster’s entirely cute appearance and clear emotional reactions to his treatment add to the interactive aspect, and some young readers might even resist the instructions to avoid hurting their new pal. Children will be brought along on the monster’s journey, going from excited, noisy, and wiggly to calm and steady (one can hope).
Playful, engaging, and full of opportunities for empathy—a raucous storytime hit. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6456-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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