by Gene Weingarten ; illustrated by Eric Shansby ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 2014
A rare if not unwelcome agnostic rumination.
The misplaced worship of man’s best friend perturbs its young master.
Sid loves Murphy and thinks he’s just about the best dog in the world. Murphy loves Sid too, but Sid has noticed a disturbing fact about his pet. Murphy doesn’t just love Sid—he worships him like a god. In rhyming verse Sid explains how Murphy will apologize when his owner is the one clearly at fault. He thinks Sid rewards his good behavior and punishes his bad with events (rain, a lovely day) that are clearly outside the boy’s control. Saying he’s not a supreme being (and maybe there isn’t one at all), the boy wrestles with the canine’s religious convictions. Picture books questioning the very existence of the Almighty are rarities. It may well be that large swaths of the population will miss the book’s point, begging the question as to whether or not the children of atheists would embrace it at all. Additionally, an offhanded comment that refers to Murphy’s prayers as “silly” will give some readers pause. Shansby’s digital illustrations give a welcome, lighthearted feel to what might otherwise come off as too heavy a message. They march in step with Weingarten, though readers are left pondering the point of a conspicuous church that makes a cameo in the background of one page.
A rare if not unwelcome agnostic rumination. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9413-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Chloe Dominique ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Pleasant enough but not particularly original.
Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor.
Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless. Children’s dreams can be in-the-moment ones—like purple ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry—or more far-ranging ones, such as growing tall enough to reach that high shelf easily or for hair that’s long enough to braid. It doesn’t matter, the author reassures young readers. Your aspirations will be realized, so don’t give up on them—just keep believing in them and, most of all, in yourself. Throughout, Kotb calls hope a rainbow, a feeling, a gift, and a wish. Hope is “new friends you’ll find— / friends who are loving and funny and kind.” Hope is “practicing your heart out, letter by letter.” The book’s overarching theme is upbeat, but its bouncy rhyming text is clumsy. The child-appealing illustrations are colorful and lively, though they have a generic look. The cast of wide-eyed characters is racially diverse; some have visible disabilities.
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593624128
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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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...
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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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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