A beautiful tale of family, love for a lost homeland, and remembrance.
Three siblings of Palestinian descent listen to their father’s bedtime story about a homeland they’ve never seen.
Their father tells them how, as a child, he visited his grandparents Teta Maria and Sido Abu Michel in the Old City of Jerusalem. He began his day by eating ka’ak, his favorite breakfast, and afterward he went to the family cafe with his Sido. Moushabeck vividly describes the streets of East Jerusalem—the many languages spoken, the “colorful vendors” selling “everything from olive oil soap with rose water and heaping bags of za’atar to gold jewelry and embroidered textiles,” and “the chanting of the muazzin’s call to prayer mixed with the ringing of church bells.” The day ends with Sido releasing the family’s pigeons and telling the young boy they won’t fly off—“This is their home.” The story turns poignant as readers learn this was the last time the children’s father saw Palestine, yet the siblings are filled with hope at the possibility of a return one day. Madooh’s loose, earth-toned illustrations pair well with Moushabeck’s words and capture both the characters’ joy and sadness. The author doesn’t offer much context as to why the family cannot return to their homeland—caregivers or educators may need to fill in some gaps. Still, it’s a stirring tale with details that evoke the senses. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A beautiful tale of family, love for a lost homeland, and remembrance. (glossary of Arabic words) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-79720-205-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.
The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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