A moving if oversimplified look at a very real threat
Imarvaluk fears for the safety of her island home off the coast of Alaska.
Imarvaluk’s Alaskan Native people, the Inupiat, have lived near the sea since the beginning of memory. Her name in English means “the song of the waves,” but though she loves her name, she finds it hard to continue to love the ocean. Her family lives on a small island, Sarichef, so small it would be a tiny speck on any map of the Arctic Circle. The Inupiat people have adopted many modern ways: “We no longer live in igloos,” Imarvaluk tells readers, but in wooden houses, and most prefer snowmobiles to their traditional dog sleds. Her grandfather’s dogs used to scare Imarvaluk, but now she is more afraid the encroaching sea will soon devour their island home. Outsiders studying the phenomenon have explained how climate change is causing the glaciers to melt and the sea to rise. The villagers are moving many houses, including Imarvaluk’s, inland, but they also understand someday they will have to leave their homeland—and their traditional ways—behind. Although it perpetuates the myth that igloos were or are permanent domiciles, Pasquet’s moving story does introduce the concept of climate change, and its imminent catastrophic impact on many indigenous communities, to young readers. Arbona’s illustrations are by turns lyrical and frightening, truly indicative of the themes of the book.
A moving if oversimplified look at a very real threat . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1565-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
As insubstantial as hot air.
A diverse cast of children first makes a fleet of hot air balloons and then takes to the sky in them.
Lifestyle maven Gaines uses this activity as a platform to celebrate diversity in learning and working styles. Some people like to work together; others prefer a solo process. Some take pains to plan extensively; others know exactly what they want and jump right in. Some apply science; others demonstrate artistic prowess. But “see how beautiful it can be when / our differences share the same sky?” Double-page spreads leading up to this moment of liftoff are laid out such that rhyming abcb quatrains typically contain one or two opposing concepts: “Some of us are teachers / and share what we know. / But all of us are learners. / Together is how we grow!” In the accompanying illustration, a bespectacled, Asian-presenting child at a blackboard lectures the other children on “balloon safety.” Gaines’ text has the ring of sincerity, but the sentiment is hardly an original one, and her verse frequently sacrifices scansion for rhyme. Sometimes it abandons both: “We may not look / or work or think the same, / but we all have an / important part to play.” Swaney’s delicate, pastel-hued illustrations do little to expand on the text, but they are pretty. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.2-by-18.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 70.7% of actual size.)
As insubstantial as hot air. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4003-1423-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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