by Kat Harrison illustrated by Marusha Belle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 2021
A well-illustrated, informative story about a painful chronic condition.
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A girl explains what having a migraine feels like in Harrison’s picture book.
Mia, who has light skin and dark hair, has chronic migraines—“the opposite of fun.” The debilitating condition is more than just a headache, she explains. A migraine is “a full-body pain parade that’ll make your stomach swashbuckle and your skin swelter.” The painful episodes can occur any time, even if you’re “in the middle of biting into the world’s best donut.” Things like the weather, certain smells, and light “can hurt and make a migraine grow.” The senses are often affected, too—migraines “can make you see dots, or stripes or…an aura,” and they can sound like a “rapid heartbeat with the volume turned up, or a ringing bell.” Finally, Mia recommends that if you meet someone with a migraine, “build them a comfy and cozy cave” where they can recuperate. Mia is a spirited protagonist. Her creative language and animated examples are educational and kid-friendly. The story will comfort youngsters with chronic migraines and provide resourceful, helpful insights for friends and family of all ages. Belle’s appealing illustrations, which look hand-painted, offer imaginative scenes. For instance, when Mia explains that a migraine can cause irritation that feels like “a prickly cactus playing hopscotch on your skin,” an anthropomorphic cactus hops on her arm. Bold backdrops and swirls of color, texture, and patterns surround Mia as she describes a migraine’s visual manifestations. Includes a fact sheet from American Migraine Foundation.
A well-illustrated, informative story about a painful chronic condition.Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-954614-35-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Warren Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kat Harrison ; illustrated by Shane Crampton
by Rachel Isadora ; illustrated by Rachel Isadora ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2017
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this.
A lushly illustrated picture book with a troubling message.
Little Lala walks with her father after his successful day of fishing. When Mama calls her home for bed, a host of “good night”s delays her: to the bird, the monkey, and even the rock. As Lala wanders through her village in the darkening twilight, readers appreciate its expansive beauty and Lala’s simple joys. Although it’s been artfully written and richly illustrated by an award-winning author of many multicultural stories, this book has problems that overshadow its beauty. “African veld” sets the story in southern Africa, but its vague locale encourages Americans to think that distinctions among African countries don’t matter. Lala wears braids or locks that stick straight up, recalling the 19th-century pickaninny, and her inconsistent skin color ranges from deep ebony like her father’s to light brown. Shadows may cause some of these differences, but if it weren’t for her identifiable hair, readers might wonder if the same child wanders from page to page. Perhaps most striking of all is Lala’s bedtime story: not an African tale but an American classic. While this might evoke nostalgia in some readers, it also suggests that southern Africa has no comparably great bedtime books for Lala, perhaps in part because American children’s literature dominates the world market.
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17384-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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by Rachel Isadora ; illustrated by Rachel Isadora
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by Rachel Isadora ; illustrated by Rachel Isadora
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Alex Willmore
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by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
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by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
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