The thrill of the first day at preschool and all its attendant worries (for parent and child) are addressed in this compassionate tale. When Daniel sets off, he experiences some trepidation about leaving his mother for a strange new environment. The title phrase soon becomes his mantra as he resolutely clings to his mom. However, with steady reassurance and few strategic comfort items from home, Daniel eventually joins the group. Shortly thereafter, he is able to bid a somber, but tearless, goodbye. A day of play and blossoming friendships leads Daniel to discover the more pleasant aspects of preschool. Zalben’s (To Every Season, not reviewed, etc.) honesty and pragmatic tone will put young readers at ease. She addresses Daniel’s emotional upheavals without an excess of fanfare, neatly blending his sadness and wariness with intriguing tidbits about preschool life and the prospect of new friends. Readers who do not ease into transitions smoothly will find encouragement in Daniel’s dilemma and his resolution of it. Included at the end are a “Checklist for First Day at Preschool,” a note from the editor called “Getting Ready for Preschool,” and a cookie recipe. Zalben’s bright watercolors feature a cast of appealingly anthropomorphic animals; Daniel’s mother is a suit-clad, sneaker-wearing elephant, while his classmates are a hippo, cat, and pig. The juxtaposition of familiar animals with very human scenarios is at once comforting and comical. A terrific tale to take the sting out of first-day-of-school separation anxieties. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07250-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2001
Superheroes, and readers, will live happily-ever-after.
Why have fairy tales lasted so long? Maybe it’s because they change with every teller.
It takes surprisingly little effort to turn the Three Little Pigs into superheroes. The Big Bad Wolf basically started out as a supervillain, with the ability to blow a house down, and the pigs had to perform spectacular feats to outwit him. In this picture book, the wolf, locked in the Happily Never After tower, devises a plot to escape. Using rotten eggs and spicy ginger, he creates the Gingerbread Man, who makes his way to a baking contest where the three pigs and other fairy-tale characters are competing to win the key to the city. The Gingerbread Man grabs the key, and not even superhero pigs are fast enough to catch him, but with their secret weapon—mustard (which one of the pigs also uses to bake cookies)—they save the day. The morals: Evil never triumphs, and mustard cookies are delicious. The book’s charm is in the details. There are splotches of mustard on the cookies featured on the endpapers, and a sly-looking mouse is hiding on many of the pages. The story even manages to include more than a dozen fairy-tale figures without seeming frenzied. Evans’ use of shading is so skillful that it almost seems possible to reach out and touch the characters. Most of the human characters are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Superheroes, and readers, will live happily-ever-after. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-68221-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Skip it
This book wants to be feminist.
Princess Penelope Pineapple, illustrated as a white girl with dark hair and eyes, is the Amelia Bloomer of the Pineapple Kingdom. She has dresses, but she prefers to wear pants as she engages in myriad activities ranging from yoga to gardening, from piloting a plane to hosting a science fair. When it’s time for the Pineapple Ball, she imagines wearing a sparkly pants outfit, but she worries about Grand Lady Busyboots’ disapproval: “ ‘Pants have no place on a lady!’ she’d say. / ‘That’s how it has been, and that’s how it shall stay.’ ” In a moment of seeming dissonance between the text and art, Penny seems to resolve to wear pants, but then she shows up to the ball in a gown. This apparent contradiction is resolved when the family cat, Miss Fussywiggles, falls from the castle into the moat and Princess Penelope saves her—after stripping off her gown to reveal pink, flowered swimming trunks and a matching top. Impressed, Grand Lady Busyboots resolves that princesses can henceforth wear whatever they wish. While seeing a princess as savior rather than damsel in distress may still seem novel, it seems a stretch to cast pants-wearing as a broadly contested contemporary American feminist issue. Guthrie and Oppenheim’s unimaginative, singsong rhyme is matched in subtlety by Byrne’s bright illustrations.
Skip it . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2603-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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