bookshelf

IMAGINE THAT

Name: IMAGINE THAT
Author: Jonathan D. Voss
ISBN: 978-1-250-31455-0

From the Hoot & Olive series , Vol. 2

by Jonathan D. Voss ; illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 16, 2019

One needn’t imagine there are better books about using the imagination.

bookshelf

What to do when imagination fails on a rainy, indoor-play day?

That’s the dilemma Olive faces when her best pal, stuffed-toy-owl Hoot, can’t enter her flights of fancy when she wants to play pretend. Is Hoot’s imagination lost, broken, jumbled, gone? Olive proposes inventive scenarios the pair can enact—their house floating away, a lurking giant, fairies in the cellar. She offers Hoot a colander (as an “antenna” to unscramble mixed signals) and poufy earmuffs (to prevent “leaks”). Nothing works. When a dejected Hoot mentions his heart hurts, there’s an aha moment: Olive remembers one must use the heart to imagine. Hoot does, and an imaginative play day ensues. In an aw-shucks ending, Hoot suggests he and Olive imagine being friends forever. The premise positions literal-minded Hoot as “broken” and inferior, a troubling notion that the obscure assurance that imagination springs from the heart does not dispel. Furthermore, readers will recognize that Olive and Hoot are already besties, so they won’t see the need for them to imagine continuing their friendship. Overall, the amusing, energetic pen-and-ink–and-watercolor illustrations fare better than the thin, unengaging text. Olive and Hoot are endearing, though Olive (who presents white) isn’t very expressive. A variety of perspectives throughout and lots of white space focus readers’ eyes on the protagonists.

One needn’t imagine there are better books about using the imagination. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: July 16, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-250-31455-0

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHOO-KU HAIKU
by Maria Gianferrari ; illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss

- BOOK REVIEW
BRAVE ENOUGH FOR TWO
by Jonathan D. Voss ; illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss

- BOOK REVIEW
WINNIE
by Sally M. Walker ; illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

RUBY FINDS A WORRY

From the Big Bright Feelings series

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...

bookshelf

Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.

Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)