A relatable vision of immigration that takes flight.
An ode to those who traverse boundaries, told by a mother to her daughter as they travel to see relatives for Lunar New Year.
Filmmaker and poet Snow uses birds as a metaphor for immigration in this story of a family—who have apparently journeyed to a new country—returning to China for a visit. Nervous to fly, the child wants to go home, but Mama gestures to the cranes flying alongside the plane (“They are your aunties”) and explains that “our family expands across borders. We belong in the sky.” She adds, “Long ago, when we were birds, we soared across the seas.” Snow’s illustrations are as grand as the book’s language: “The skies were our highways; the stars were our street signs.” Migrating birds holding the shape of people within their bodies fly amid a deep blue cosmos of stars. Mama notes that when the birds became people, flying down to Earth with the stars within them, those unfamiliar with the skies “built steel walls” that patrolled and surveilled, “splitting families in two.” Little Snow and Mama descend on the back of a giant bird and then have dinner with Grandma and her family. The juxtaposition of magical metaphor and the psychedelic colors of everyday life at Grandma’s house feel surreal but perfectly convey the feeling of mystery and wonder at this world in which souls can soar. Young readers will understand Snow’s message viscerally, while adults will appreciate the political implications.
A relatable vision of immigration that takes flight. (author’s note, note from Make Me a World founder Christopher Myers) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593428511
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Make Me a World
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
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