A gentle story with clear messaging about kindness, empathy, and seeing beyond superficial differences.
A little boy whose skin changes color is bullied for being different in Tabb’s illustrated children’s book.
Sam is a third grader with an unusual condition: Like a chameleon, his skin turns different colors to match his surroundings. Sam has a few friends, but other kids mock and bully him. A girl laughs at a purple-skinned Sam when he asks if she wants to play. A boy calls him “weird” and “pushe[s] Sam’s bike over.” On his way home, Sam turns green. While he’s greeted appreciatively by his adoring little sister and supportive parents (“We love you just the way you are”), Sam is still sad, wishing he looked like “everyone else.” By not over-dramatizing Sam’s plight, Tabb strikes the right tone to invite readers’ empathy, then deftly turns things around by giving Sam agency over how he is perceived, having him dream that he’s saved from bullies by a bunch of chameleons. The heroic, color-shifting reptiles spark Sam’s fascination with the real thing. He learns about them (Tabb includes interesting chameleon facts), is given his own pet chameleon, and takes his pet to school. There, Sam’s informed presentation sparks his peers’ interest, and they see that Sam is a pretty cool kid, no matter what color he is. The chameleon theme is woven visually throughout the book; Tabb alerts her readers to spot the five chameleons that can be found on certain pages as part of the illustrations by Albert. These are done in an especially engaging style featuring expressive cartoonish characters in different skin tones (a couple of them are in wheelchairs), simple line drawings, and an assured balance of color and white space. The after-material includes questions for kids to ponder and a link to a website with activities.
A gentle story with clear messaging about kindness, empathy, and seeing beyond superficial differences.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2024
ISBN: 9798350969092
Page Count: 36
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle...
Making things is difficult work. Readers will recognize the stages of this young heroine’s experience as she struggles to realize her vision.
First comes anticipation. The artist/engineer is spotted jauntily pulling a wagonload of junkyard treasures. Accompanied by her trusty canine companion, she begins drawing plans and building an assemblage. The narration has a breezy tone: “[S]he makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!” The colorful caricatures and creations contrast with the digital black outlines on a white background that depict an urban neighborhood. Intermittent blue-gray panels break up the white expanses on selected pages showing sequential actions. When the first piece doesn’t turn out as desired, the protagonist tries again, hoping to achieve magnificence. A model of persistence, she tries many adjustments; the vocabulary alone offers constructive behaviors: she “tinkers,” “wrenches,” “fiddles,” “examines,” “stares” and “tweaks.” Such hard work, however, combines with disappointing results, eventually leading to frustration, anger and injury. Explosive emotions are followed by defeat, portrayed with a small font and scaled-down figures. When the dog, whose expressions have humorously mirrored his owner’s through each phase, retrieves his leash, the resulting stroll serves them well. A fresh perspective brings renewed enthusiasm and—spoiler alert—a most magnificent scooter sidecar for a loyal assistant.
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle characterization for maximum delight. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55453-704-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
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