A vivid tale of intercultural friendship and understanding.
Author and illustrator Morrill offers a picture book about a friendship between two girls—one of whom lives in a World War II-era internment camp in Arkansas.
Sachi, a youngster of Japanese heritage, and Jubie, a Black girl, are best friends. Sachi and her family live at the Rohwer Relocation Center. One afternoon, the girls’ cloud watching turns into an opportunity for Sachi to teach Jubie about her heritage. One of the clouds, for instance, looks like a kimono to Sachi, and she runs off to find one for her friend to try on. Jubie appreciates the care and tradition associated with the garment, and she learns about an upcoming celebration of Obon featuring traditional Japanese dances. As Sachi describes the dance and hums the music, they each envision their hands as butterflies; a kind of magic takes over as Jubie dances. Afterward, though, the girls come back to the stark reality of the relocation camp. Morrill’s book is based on a scene from her novel for adults, The Red Kimono (2013). Here, the author’s illustrations effectively transport readers to the story’s setting, thanks to mixed-media art featuring watercolor characters and scenery, superimposed onto historical photographs. The story includes elements of story and heritage, but endnotes skillfully expand upon it with additional information for adults and older children.
A vivid tale of intercultural friendship and understanding.Pub Date: April 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781966675068
Page Count: 31
Publisher: Solander Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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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
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