The charm in Harper’s Miles books doesn’t get old—children using their imaginations, directing their own play, and showing...
Highly imaginative preschooler Miles is back, this time competing winningly with his friends in a car race.
Readers first met Miles in his debut, Miles to Go (2010), in which he “drove” his foot-powered car, Flintstones-style, to his preschool and parked it next to his classmates’ rides. This time, the students at his school are taking a race lap around the playground, but there’s some stiff competition—new student Indie has a Speedster 660, an electric car. Lined up at the start line, Indie’s engine “vroom”s while the other racers tap their feet. Go! From there, onomatopoeia and simple sentences describe the intense action of the race: “Miles takes the lead early. Watch out! Rough track ahead! // Screeeech! Miles escapes the three-car pileup.” But these preschoolers seem to be more concerned about being kind than being fast. All cheer; Miles backs up to check on Otto when he spins out; when Indie’s car sputters, Miles considers taking the easy win but makes a better choice; the victor shares the prize. Winning is not about being fastest. As in the first book, Harper mixes block prints with mixed-media collage, adding interesting patterns and textures to the illustrations, and a map on both endpapers shows the racecourse around the playground.
The charm in Harper’s Miles books doesn’t get old—children using their imaginations, directing their own play, and showing empathy and kindness for all. What could be better? (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5562-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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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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