Zainab and her classmates learn about differences in this illustrated children’s book.
Young Zainab loves going to school, especially to see her best friend, Melissa, and teacher, Mrs. Sperber. But one day, classmate Matt says he won’t play with Melissa and Zainab: “My dad said [Zainab is] weird and different from us,” he tells them. When Zainab asks Mrs. Sperber whether she is different, the teacher decides to give the whole class a lesson about commonalities and differences. The children learn, for example, that some people go to church, some to a mosque, some to a synagogue, some to temple; people celebrate different holidays, including Christmas, Eid, Diwali and Hanukkah; some mothers wear headscarfs, some don’t. “Differences are what make each of us unique and special,” Mrs. Sperber says. “But everyone feels sad if someone is mean and everyone feels happy when we’re nice to each other. Feelings are the same for everyone!” In the end, Matt apologizes, and he, Zainab and Melissa decide to paint together. Wise’s colorful (if somewhat awkward and glassy-eyed) illustrations help tell the story, along with some photographs of religious buildings. The message of tolerance and caring about others’ feelings is, of course, unexceptionable, although the solution elides real-world difficulties: Matt’s father is the one who really needs the lesson, but so far as readers know, he doesn’t receive it. What if Matt’s father still doesn’t want him to play with Zainab?
Doesn’t address all the complexities of discrimination, but it’s a good conversation starter on a difficult subject.
Pub Date: June 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-1495391422
Page Count: 24
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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