I'M NOT A MOUSE

Name: I'M NOT A MOUSE
Author: Evgenia Golubeva
ISBN: 978-1-78628-464-8

by Evgenia Golubeva ; illustrated by Evgenia Golubeva ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 2020

This entertaining, ebulliently illustrated story will make grown-ups pause before nicknaming somebody without their approval.

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For all those kids who are tired of the nicknames their families give them.

A young, black, bespectacled child with hair in two big curly puffballs tells readers, “I love my mom”—but not Mom’s nickname for the child: Mouse. Whenever Mom uses that nickname, the kid transforms. Suddenly, this backpack-wearing child becomes a purple mouse, wearing miniature glasses and clothes but lugging a yellow backpack that hasn’t shrunk. The protagonist then recalls all of the instances when Mom has interrupted play and activities by inconveniently changing her offspring into this purple rodent—which sometimes puts the child in treacherous, life-threatening situations, such as when Mom causes a transformation in front of the family’s orange cat. Frustrated, the child finally screams, “I’m not a MOUSE,” and then ignores Mom until she uses the child’s given name: Olivia. The rebellion works, but Olivia soon realizes that plenty of other kids—even grown kids—deal with the same problem. Golubeva’s bold, colorful illustrations effectively capture both Olivia’s conundrum and the child’s frustration with Mom’s annoying habit. A double-page spread in a city park reveals diverse children and nickname-granting caregivers, the kids all amusingly transformed. Frontmatter pages feature Mouse in many different situations, and corresponding backmatter pages add further humor by showing all the other things nicknames have transformed kids into, some non-English languages adding further diversity.

This entertaining, ebulliently illustrated story will make grown-ups pause before nicknaming somebody without their approval. (Picture book. 4-8 )

Pub Date: June 15, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-78628-464-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Child's Play

Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ENCHANTED FOREST
by Samantha Chagollan ; illustrated by Evgenia Golubeva

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE CRAYONS GO BACK TO SCHOOL

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2023

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.

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The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.

Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)