by Jill Kargman & Sadie Kargman & illustrated by Christine Davenier ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2011
When the pink and blue rules of kindergarten threaten best friends, they have to make a choice.
Five-year-olds Ivy and Fletch have been friends their whole lives. They have always been best pals, even holding hands during naptime together at preschool. But kindergarten is different. At the beginning, Fletch and Ivy swing together at recess, but soon the lines are drawn. The boys are on the pirate team, and the girls quickly form the princess team. The pink and blue war is on, with one lifelong friendship its first casualty. The mother-and-daughter team tells the story, but it’s Davenier’s energetic pencil-and-watercolor illustrations that give the story its heart. She captures all the action and emotion of the playground with a few deft pencil lines. Fletch and Ivy rarely lose sight of each other, but their friendship is appropriately platonic. Though the story ends as expected, it’s nice to see that they figure out things for themselves, with no adult intervention, giving young readers some good ideas for when gender roles exert themselves in school. Teachers especially will turn to this good-natured story; it will help open up a discussion about friendship that many children will profit from. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-525-42229-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
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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BOOK REVIEW
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
BOOK REVIEW
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald
BOOK REVIEW
by Jory John ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Erin Kraan
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