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OVER THE ROOFTOPS, UNDER THE MOON

Name: OVER THE ROOFTOPS, UNDER THE MOON
Author: JonArno Lawson
ISBN: 978-1-59270-262-6

by JonArno Lawson ; illustrated by Nahid Kazemi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019

This metaphor for the construction of self offers much to thoughtful readers

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An individual’s relationships to self and community are pondered in this metaphorical outing.

“You can be far away inside, / and far away outside. / With others, but still on your own.” Smudgy, mixed-media paintings use negative space to depict a long-legged bird that’s the off-white of the mottled paper. It leans against a chimney, soars over a city, lounges with others of its ilk. As Lawson’s second-person text continues, the bird begins to interact with the city’s people, its feathers taking on colors and patterns worn by the diverse human residents. It rides a roller coaster with the humans as its flock takes wing. “But then snow falls / and something changes again.” As the humans don their winter coats, the bird flies from the icy climes to another city, with archways and palm trees, where it rejoins its flock, “alone and together / over the rooftops / and under the moon.” Iranian-born Kazemi’s illustrations are as porous and open to interpretation as Lawson’s text. The bare bones of the visual story are accessible to children who have begun to understand the fundamentals of migration, but they are also, appropriately, enigmatic. Children beginning to understand that they are separate from those who surround them will sense the emotional truth that underpins both pictures and text even if they cannot yet articulate it.

This metaphor for the construction of self offers much to thoughtful readers . (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-59270-262-6

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
A DAY FOR SANDCASTLES
by JonArno Lawson ; illustrated by Qin Leng

- BOOK REVIEW
OVER THE SHOP
by JonArno Lawson ; illustrated by Qin Leng

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PLAYGROUNDS OF BABEL
by JonArno Lawson ; illustrated by Piet Grobler

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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

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

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE BIG CHEESE

From the Food Group series

by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.

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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)