by J. Patrick Lewis & illustrated by Valorie Fisher ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 2010
When sun, rain and snowflakes collide, a strange store suddenly rises up at the end of Pumpkin Street. Benny Penny is the only one brave enough to walk through the door. Inside, he finds a fantastical adventure. Written in verse comparable only to Lewis Carroll, toasters fly, ketchup dances and the cup gets a little saucy with the saucer. The winsome pinnacle of bizarre is the Pot and Teapot race. Other objects—and readers, too—cheer them on. But what makes this tomfoolery even more appealing is that it is also in rebus form. The rebus verses set off one side of the spread, and Fisher’s layered, diorama-style scenes envelop the other. Old clippings from five-and-dimes serve as wallpaper, and every label, on every item, is painstakingly detailed. While not ideal for just-emergent readers, those a little more advanced will likely embrace the game. A rebus poem by its very nature begs to be reread, but with ebullient wordplay and a nostalgic tug at the (admittedly adult) heart, this one will be especially hard to let go. (complete poem at end) (Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-85878-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
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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...
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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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
by Christina Soontornvat ; illustrated by Barbara Szepesi Szucs ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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by Sarah Mlynowski & Christina Soontornvat ; illustrated by Maxine Vee
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by Christina Soontornvat ; illustrated by Kevin Hong
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by Christina Soontornvat ; illustrated by Kevin Hong
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