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LEAPING LEMMINGS!

Name: LEAPING LEMMINGS!
Author: John Briggs
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1819-6

by John Briggs ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 2016

Despite the alluring artwork, this is a half-baked tale.

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Lemmings aren’t exactly known for their anti-establishment nonconformity, except for Briggs’ Larry, or is it Mary?

Lemmings live up north, up on a tundra colored in Slater’s lovely swaths of pistachio green, ballpark-mustard yellow, and tangerine orange. Living in this particular slice of the Arctic is a lemming that also happens to be an odd duck. “Call me Larry,” he informs his indistinguishable mates. “What’s a Larry?” asks one lemming. “I hear he wants to be called Mary,” says another. In the accompanying illustration, Larry is wearing a grass skirt, lei, and hibiscus behind one ear. (If this is meant to open an inquiry into gender identity, it’s not pursued.) Larry just doesn’t cotton to the lemming way of life: burrowing, eating moss, jumping off cliffs en masse. So he tries life with his other friends: the puffins, seals, and polar bears. But the seals are too noisy, the puffins live on cliffs, and the bears appear to be sizing Larry up for lunch (some friends). So it is back to the lemmings, now merrily running toward the cliff’s edge. This can’t be good, no matter the genetic impulse, thinks Larry, so he bolts to the front and steers them clear of the wayward impulse by leading them to his cabin, where they eat pepperoni pizza. No more “Follow the Leader”—now it’s “Follow the Larry.” Lemmings, evidently, never learn.

Despite the alluring artwork, this is a half-baked tale. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4549-1819-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sterling

Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

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FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)