Charming.
In this companion to Same, Same but Different (2011), two pen pals delight in their differences and commonalities.
Tulsi, a light-skinned child in New Mexico, and Vanessa, a Black-presenting child in Tanzania, begin writing to each other as part of a library pen pal program. Tulsi lives in the mountains; Vanessa lives by the sea. Vanessa takes a long city bus ride to school; Tulsi is homeschooled. Tulsi rarely sees rain, but when it does, the child rushes outside to dance; Vanessa prefers to cuddle up with a book during the rainy season. Their differences are fascinating and innumerable, but each one also brings them closer together. The woods near Tulsi’s house may smell like butterscotch, while Vanessa’s city is awash in the scent of frangipani, but both pen pals love their homes’ perfumes—“like you, like me!” Vanessa daydreams of racing like a cheetah, while Tulsi wishes to soar like a red-tailed hawk, but both agree that riding a bike is the next best thing. Every shared detail shrinks the distance between northern New Mexico and the Tanzanian coast until the pair are all but face to face in their mutual understanding. The gently paced text moves smoothly from one letter to the next. Bright, mixed-media illustrations visually align the children’s busy lives with balanced, reflective spreads that defy the barrier of the gutter and emphasize difference as a means of connection.
Charming. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780316330084
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
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