Andreae and Dodd’s brush-headed toddler spreads the love wide.
This kid’s enthusiasm for school is catching for all who hear Andreae’s bouncy text. After recess, “We go back in to paint some more, / then stick our pictures on the door. / We make a lot of things as well. / This one’s my favorite! Can you tell?” The cardboard rocket the tot shares with a close buddy sports their faces gazing from the round windows. Those preparing to attend school for the first time will appreciate this look at a typical classroom day, and their parents will hope their own offsprings’ sendoffs are as easy: “Bye now, Mommy, you can go!” The teacher takes attendance, leads show and tell, teaches and praises, supervises play, sings a song, and helps the children—a diverse classroom, but the protagonist is white—get ready to go home. Still, this is not a perfect package. Though only one teacher, a woman with light-brown skin and hair, interacts with the child all day, the child initially refers to plural teachers (a white man stands in the doorway but is never seen again), and when readers are directed to look at the child’s name tag, it’s just a scribble. The purple duck some readers may remember from I Love You, Baby (2015) and earlier titles appears in just five of the 12 spreads, perhaps indicating increasing maturity.
A cheerily serviceable introduction to school routines. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-02730-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
After years of everyday joys with McQuinn and Beardshaw’s Lola, readers now watch her start school.
It “will be a bit like story time at the library, but Lola will stay by herself.” The little black girl “knows what to expect” because she’s visited the school with her mom. She is prepared with gifts from loved ones—“fun pencils” from Nana, a water bottle from Ty. The night before her “big day,” Lola lays out her outfit. In the morning, she tucks her stuffed kitty, Dinah, in her bag and poses for a snapshot. In the classroom, Miss Suzan, a white woman, shows her where to put her things. Lola spends time reading with her friend Julia, who has pale skin and black hair, and then they play dress-up. Her mom sits for a while before saying goodbye. After snack time and more play, there is circle time. Of course, “Lola knows the song and all the motions.” Picking Lola up at the end of the day, Mommy hugs her daughter. Beardshaw’s soft, slightly smudgy illustrations allow young readers to focus on one cozy moment at a time. Even at this milestone, Lola still appears quite tiny, and the text is no more complex than in previous books, making this a seamless transition from Lola’s younger days to her new life in school.
Both perfect for Lola fans and likely to earn her ever more readers. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58089-938-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Only polar bears are allowed on Polar Bear Island, until Kirby, a friendly, creative penguin, arrives on the scene.
On the verso of the first double-page spread, large white lettering proclaims against an azure sky: “Polar Bear Island was peaceful and predictable. Parker, the mayor, planned to keep it that way.” Below, Parker—paint can in left paw—can be seen facing his sign: “Welcome to Polar Bear Island. No Others Allowed.” On the recto, Kirby floats into view on an ice floe, with hat, scarf, and overstuffed suitcase. When Kirby arrives, Parker grudgingly allows her an overnight stay. However, she soon proves her worth to the other bears; she has invented Flipper Slippers, which keep extremities warm and reverse from skates to snowshoes. Now Kirby is allowed to stay and help the bears make their own Flipper Slippers. When her family shows up with more inventions, Parker feels compelled to give them a week. (Presumably, the penguins have made the 12,430-mile-trip from the South Pole to the North Pole, characterized merely as “a long journey.”) A minor crisis permanently changes Parker’s attitudes about exclusivity. The text is accessible and good fun to read aloud. The weakness of the ostensible theme of granting welcome to newcomers lies in the fact that all the newcomers are immediately, obviously useful to the bears. The cartoonlike, scratchboard-ish graphics are lighthearted and full of anthropomorphic touches.
Good bedtime reading. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2870-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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