A contemplative tale of patience, gratitude, belonging, and the beauty of the rain.
A child makes a heartfelt prayer one Ramadan.
Walking with Momma from the bus stop to the mosque, Haneen complains, “I miss having a car. I’m getting all wet.” “Rain brings blessings,” responds Momma. “And duas, or prayers, said on a rainy day get answered.” Rich sensory language envelops readers as the two enter the mosque. The descriptions glow with detail, such as “shoes that look like sunny-day sky” and “a sea of colorful garments”—things Haneen yearns for but that the family can’t afford. As Haneen plays with the other children, Thompkins-Bigelow gently zeroes in on the quiet tension between abundance and scarcity that often exists in shared spaces. But as the night progresses, the warmth of community and the stillness of the communal night prayer grant Haneen space for reflection and the chance to dream and pray for what matters most. Betawi’s palette of calming blues matches the text’s meditative tone, while her compositions have an invitingly childlike charm. Momma and Haneen are brown-skinned; the varied skin tones and clothing of the characters reflect the beauty of the ummah, the global Muslim community. Arabic calligraphy with the names of God adorns the masjid’s walls, capturing the magnificence of Islamic worship spaces. Together, these details form a layered visual experience that mirrors the story’s emotional depth.
A contemplative tale of patience, gratitude, belonging, and the beauty of the rain. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780593705445
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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