An appealing, kid-friendly tale about developing resilience.
In this picture book, a boy learns New Age techniques for gaining serenity.
Jax, a young White boy, has grown up knowing the importance of being kind and loving. But as he gets older, he finds it more difficult. He fights with a friend, has a bike accident, and loses a contest. During these typical trials, his feelings get hurt, and he even lashes out. Jax’s mother gives him a magical Love Mirror, and she teaches the boy how to deal with being upset through techniques like putting his hand on his heart, acknowledging the hurt, letting the feelings go, accepting, forgiving, and practicing gratitude. With this new perspective, Jax understands that although things might happen that he doesn’t like, he can believe in himself and trust the universe. With her debut picture book, Dearing appeals to kids with attractive rhyme, meter, and typography (“Jax was feeling determined—a truly brave boy / He would follow his mirror to find love and joy”). Some of her advice is simple to follow, but kids could have trouble with concepts like souland ego. Parents might disagree that acceptance is always the answer, as in cases of bullying or racism. Experienced illustrator Alshalabi adds whimsical details, like Jax trying to catch a dove in a butterfly net, and depicts some multiracial characters.
An appealing, kid-friendly tale about developing resilience.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Breathing Love, LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills.
What do you do when the world turns upside down?
Freckled redhead Tilda is a happy only child with a rollicking personality. With lots of books and toys and a multiracial group of friends, life is perfect as far as she’s concerned…until her world undergoes a troubling change (a subtle hint in the illustrations suggests that Tilda’s parents have divorced). Suddenly, nothing feels right, everything seems hard, and she doesn’t want to play with her friends. To reflect this emotional disorientation, the artwork shows Tilda in spatially distorted settings, complete with upside-down objects. It’s not until she sees an upturned ladybug struggle persistently before getting back on its feet (despite Tilda’s desire to help, the ladybug needs to help itself) that Tilda gains the courage to start taking baby steps in order to cope with her new reality. There are still challenges, and she needs to persevere, but eventually, she regains her zest for life and reconnects with her friends. Despite this, the ending avoids an easy happily-ever-after, which feels just right for the subject matter. Though a trifle didactic, the story sends an important message about the roles of self-efficacy and persistence when it comes to overcoming challenges and building resilience. Percival’s digital illustrations use transitions from grayscale to color to create symbolic meaning and have psychological depth, deftly capturing a child’s experience of trauma.
An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0822-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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