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BANANA DREAM

Name: BANANA DREAM
Author: Hasan Namir
ISBN: 9780823451005

by Hasan Namir ; illustrated by Daby Zainab Faidhi ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

What’s in a name? Plenty, as this clever and poignant tale makes clear.

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An Iraqi boy growing up during the Gulf War comes to terms with his name.

Mooz dislikes his name, which means banana in Arabic. His classmates mock him because he’s named after a fruit considered strange. Bananas can’t grow in Iraq’s desert climate, and they become impossible to find during the war, when international sanctions reduce most families’ groceries to carefully rationed basics like tea, flour, rice, and beans. But everything changes when Mooz asks his mother how she chose his name and she tells him the story of his birth. After years of being unable to get pregnant, she dreamed that she was feeding a baby a banana. After she told Mooz’s father about the dream, he drove for hours to find her a banana, and soon after, Mooz was born. After hearing this story, Mooz becomes proud of his name and defends it from his teasing classmates. When the Gulf War ends, bananas are plentiful in Iraq, and Mooz at last tries his first banana. This vibrantly illustrated picture book introduces children to the toll of war through a relatable experience: learning the meaning of one’s name. Mooz emerges as a fully formed, layered character, while the Iraq setting is richly drawn. The stylized artwork has an appropriately dreamy feel in places. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

What’s in a name? Plenty, as this clever and poignant tale makes clear. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 11, 2023

ISBN: 9780823451005

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NAME I CALL MYSELF
by Hasan Namir ; illustrated by Cathryn John

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)