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KIKI AND THE CAN

Name: KIKI AND THE CAN
Author: John Leguizamo
ISBN: 9781338785692

by John Leguizamo ; illustrated by John "Crash" Matos & Liz Casal ‧ RELEASE DATE: today

Loud and proud, a solid offering that should spark creative expression and further inquiry.

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Award-winning actor Leguizamo, celebrated graffiti artist Matos, and illustrator Casal shake things up with an homage to venerated Latin American leaders in the arts and sciences.

Kiki and his friends gather at the playground and pore over biographies of their heroes; they’re quick to point out favorites who share their own ethnic heritage. But brown-skinned Kiki draws a blank. So Mom calls relatives and stacks up books to remind Kiki that “[Latine people] didn’t just show up from nothing, nene….We’ve had the greatest civilizations the world has ever seen.” As part of a community art project, Kiki sets out to “color in our history.” With a “shake-shake-shake” of a spray can, he celebrates the talented Latin diaspora by painting black-and-white portraits around town. In their frontmatter, lifelong friends Leguizamo and Matos note that they were motivated to fill what they saw as a lack of kid lit with Latine representation. The appreciative text relies heavily on lists—of names, accomplishments, foods—that squeeze facts into a story that’s scant on enriching details but colorful and peppy all the same. Digital artwork overlays photographs capturing urban streetscapes and interiors, featuring Kiki among vibrant splashes of graffitied walls capturing brightly hued murals curated from Matos’ own work. Closing notes from the creators speak further to the book’s mission.

Loud and proud, a solid offering that should spark creative expression and further inquiry. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: today

ISBN: 9781338785692

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026

Categories:

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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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)