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MINDFUL BEA AND THE WORRY TREE

Name: MINDFUL BEA AND THE WORRY TREE
Author: Gail Silver
ISBN: 978-1-4338-2954-3

by Gail Silver ; illustrated by Franziska Höllbacher ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2019

A disappointing outing for the psychology specialists.

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A new picture book addresses anxiety with mindfulness.

Bea loves to dance, sing, and explore the outdoors. But Bea is also prone to anxious thoughts, which are brought to life in the watercolor-and-ink illustrations as long fronds of a malevolent willow tree that leave poor Bea in tangles. She’s planned a big party, but on the day of the event Bea can think only of everything that might go wrong. Her repeated attempts to control the cascade of worried thoughts are thwarted each time a guest arrives: “DING DONG!” Seeking relief, she escapes into the yard, where she is finally able to slow down and find space to breathe. When Bea discovers the party balloons are not blown up, readers might think this will confirm her fears of failure, but instead, the rhythmic breathing required to blow up the balloons further aids her calming and allows her to enjoy the party with her friends. Unfortunately, the inconsistent rhyme scheme and sometimes-confusing use of speech and thought bubbles distracts from the story and muddles the message. While the backmatter content from pediatric psychologist Ara Schmitt is informative for parents, other, better resources exist for sharing mindful breathing techniques with children as well as for providing literary mirrors to children struggling with anxiety. Bea and most of the other characters present white.

A disappointing outing for the psychology specialists. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: April 16, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4338-2954-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association

Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
STEPS AND STONES
by Gail Silver ; illustrated by Christiane Krömer

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK LOST AND FOUND

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2026

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.

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Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.

After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026

ISBN: 9780063436121

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK AND RACER RED
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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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)