A lovely way to promote acceptance of introverts by themselves and others.
What do you do when no one is watching?
A girl might be shy, but it doesn’t mean she can’t be brave and adventurous when no one can see her! This appealing heroine tries to disappear when other people are around, but when she is alone or with her best friend, she can do almost anything. Rhymed text describes both her attempts to avoid detection (“I hide like the cat alongside the big chair. / I scrunch myself down and pretend I’m not there”) and her plucky, bold side (“I’m brave as a bear in a cave in the dark. / I wrestle gorilla. / I tickle white shark”). Digitally manipulated ink-and-watercolor pictures portray the girl doing her best to remain out of sight in company and shining when she is alone and at her effervescent best. Shyness is presented in a nonjudgmental way here, as a personality characteristic that doesn’t have to be limiting. Although the pictures are sparkling and energetic, it is difficult to ignore the girl’s impossibly long, flowing shoelaces; while an appealing stylistic touch, children accustomed to Velcro will find them distracting, and their parents will find them unsafe. This is a small detail however, and shy children will feel accepted and invigorated by the girl’s ways of accepting and mitigating her reserve.
A lovely way to promote acceptance of introverts by themselves and others. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5303-5
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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