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
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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