Empathetic, informative, and fun.
A little girl with diabetes just wants to play in Lockwood’s picture book.
Katie has wavy light brown hair and fair skin. Before Katie can play hide-and-seek with the other kids in the park, her mom says: “Put the receiver in your pocket, and if you beep, get your diabetes supplies from my bag.” While her mom waits on a park bench nearby, Katie joins her friends, but when she goes to hide, her receiver beeps. Rather than following mom’s instructions, Katie keeps playing—and beeping. Katie’s friend Olivia carries a puppy dog backpack, and when they hide together, Olivia retrieves her asthma inhaler from the bag and takes a puff. Katie is inspired by her friend’s independence, and when her mom finds her, Katie apologizes for worrying her and asks if she might have her own backpack to keep her diabetes supplies on hand. Sall’s watercolor and pencil cartoon illustrations show Katie hiding and beeping while the other kids search; the images fortify the theme of Katie concealing her diabetes until she finds a friend with whom she can relate. Delightfully, it’s Katie and Olivia’s laughter about their respective conditions that gets them caught in the end (not the beeping). The prose uses short, simple sentences in the form of dialogue, Katie’s inner thoughts, and third person narration set around the illustrations. The effect is a truly immersive read that kids with and without chronic medical conditions can enjoy.
Empathetic, informative, and fun.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781964836126
Page Count: 31
Publisher: Acorn Cottage Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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