by Julia Patton ; illustrated by Julia Patton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 5, 2017
A mildly amusing outing for an odd though engaging canine character.
An extremely long “sausage dog” causes problems with his far-distant rear end until his friends provide a creative solution.
The dog, Bartelby, is presumably a wire-haired dachshund, although his ultra-long size puts him in the category of imaginary pets. He lives (seemingly independently) in a well-stocked bookstore, where he enjoys reading his favorite books “whilst eating breakfast” and having visits with three children who are his special friends. One is white with blonde braids, another is white with curly, red hair and glasses, and the third friend has brown skin and straight, dark hair. Bartelby is so long that he doesn’t know what his own rear end is doing when he goes out on walks, causing issues such as tripping people or tracking his back feet through wet cement. His friends read books at the bookstore to discover a way to help him, coming up with a bright yellow sweater for Bartelby’s back end with a light and warning sign. Soft-focus, colored-pencil illustrations have a whimsical appeal, with amusing expressions for Bartelby and a multiethnic cast of characters. The dog’s enormous length makes some of the illustrations hard to understand, and it’s difficult to grasp how Bartelby could walk with his extra-long body, powered only by four tiny feet.
A mildly amusing outing for an odd though engaging canine character. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-5445-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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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...
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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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Chloe Dominique ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Pleasant enough but not particularly original.
Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor.
Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless. Children’s dreams can be in-the-moment ones—like purple ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry—or more far-ranging ones, such as growing tall enough to reach that high shelf easily or for hair that’s long enough to braid. It doesn’t matter, the author reassures young readers. Your aspirations will be realized, so don’t give up on them—just keep believing in them and, most of all, in yourself. Throughout, Kotb calls hope a rainbow, a feeling, a gift, and a wish. Hope is “new friends you’ll find— / friends who are loving and funny and kind.” Hope is “practicing your heart out, letter by letter.” The book’s overarching theme is upbeat, but its bouncy rhyming text is clumsy. The child-appealing illustrations are colorful and lively, though they have a generic look. The cast of wide-eyed characters is racially diverse; some have visible disabilities.
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593624128
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Suzie Mason
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