A kid-friendly demonstration of how we can all make the world a more loving place.
A youngster spreads love throughout the community.
The tan-skinned narrator makes tiny paper hearts. “The hearts don’t say ‘I love you,’” explains the protagonist, “but, kind of, they do—when you share them.” The child gives the hearts to friends, family, and neighbors while finding other ways to show love: drawing a picture of a cat for a pal, delivering cookies to a neighbor, and reading a story to a younger sibling. With the paper hearts now all gone, the child comes to an important realization: “I find love everywhere, being shared in a hundred different ways from hearts of all shapes and sizes.” Cotterill’s illustrations—hand-built sets that were then photographed—bring the narrative to life, giving it a three-dimensional, textured feel. The child’s handful of paper hearts pop off the page, while the bag of cookies looks real enough to hold. Movement and depth are so effectively conveyed that some images feel like video stills. This moving story will empower children to find ways to positively influence their own communities. The acts of service are practical and realistic, making this a perfect tale to share with preschoolers and early elementary school students. In her author’s note, Vickers discusses how she drew inspiration from an activity she implemented years ago at children’s classes at her church. People depicted vary in terms of skin tone and ability.
A kid-friendly demonstration of how we can all make the world a more loving place. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781665929769
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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