A layered story that humanizes the refugee experience.
Two young siblings survive a perilous journey across the sea and start a new life in a new country.
The only remaining survivors on a refugee boat, the young boy and his older sister are rescued and taken to “a broken house.” Each sibling experiences the aftermath of their journey differently. While the younger one embraces his new reality and ventures outside to explore and make friends, his sister is more hesitant; unsure of the future, she stays indoors, traumatized by memories and “hiding from the dark in her mind.” Confused as to why his sister won’t come out to play, the boy brings her a butterfly that ultimately shows both siblings that healing requires patience and time. The idea that sometimes we can feel many complicated emotions all at once comes through loud and clear. The mixed-media illustrations use dark hues to convey the girl’s feelings of isolation, loss, and uncertainty and vivid colors to depict moments of hope and courage. While the story never reveals the exact circumstances surrounding the children’s displacement, the lyrical text gently captures their yearning for safety and their togetherness. The protagonists and other children at the refugee shelter have light brown skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A layered story that humanizes the refugee experience. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2055-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick Studio
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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