A touching account of courage and kindness.
A Vietnamese child living in a refugee camp in America finds courage while learning English.
Ánh’s attempts to speak English while attending the camp’s school are stressful. The child tenses up, and “heat rises to my cheeks like when I bite into a tiny hot chili pepper.” But the teacher, Miss Mary Ellen, is reassuring: “Take your time…It’ll get easier.” Words such as thank you seem stuck within Ánh’s throat, and the child’s frustrations grow. Back home in Vietnam, Ánh was the student who had all the answers. Now fears of making mistakes keep the child silent. As the gentle narrative progresses, Ánh and Bà Nội (Grandmother) walk back to their barrack, and Bà Nội encourages the little one: “Vietnamese will always be our first language, but it’s good for us to learn English so we can speak with our American helpers. We’ll keep practicing.” In the camp store, Ánh discovers a Christmas sweater festooned with a reindeer, and the child’s perspective shifts. Excited by the new sweater, Ánh learns an English word and even says it aloud: reindeer. Bui reveals in the author’s note that this is in fact her own story and includes pictures of her grandma and the teacher whom Miss Mary Ellen is based on. This poignant tale is accompanied by charming cartoon artwork with simple textured backdrops, the warm palette adding to the emotional tone. Miss Mary Ellen presents white.
A touching account of courage and kindness. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781250842138
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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