A charming story of encouragement, illustrated with life and movement.
A young Chinese girl discovers the beauty of imperfection during a Lunar New Year celebration.
When Grandpa picks up a tangerine tree at the market, Ping’s excited (“It will bring prosperity and good luck”). She decides that the leafy new resident needs a “perfect pot,” so she gathers her clay and gets to work. Ping deems her first effort too “clumsy.” Meanwhile, Grandpa cleans up around her and gently urges her on. The evenly paced narrative is artfully spotted with onomatopoeias as Ping attempts various media with rigor: She uses papier-mâché and vials of colorful glitter and tries to wrap yarn around a bowl. But nothing is just right. Yang fills every page with bright hues and intricate details, creating vivid scenes. Alluring illustrations show Grandpa decorating the house for the festivities as he urges Ping to persevere. Through Grandpa’s dialogue, Wu provides pragmatic examples on how to take a mindful approach to challenges, and finally, after taking a deep breath, Ping realizes her artistic vision. Grandpa praises her, but “something is still missing.” Ping eventually finds beauty within the flaws of her prior projects and decides to include them in the final celebratory display, each holding plants of their own. Her embrace of all aspects of the creative process makes for a delightful holiday tale.
A charming story of encouragement, illustrated with life and movement. (information on Lunar New Year traditions, author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798889830429
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beaming Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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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
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