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MY WISH FOR YOU

Name: MY WISH FOR YOU
Author: Kathryn Hahn
ISBN: 978-1-338-15040-7

LESSONS FROM MY SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER

by Kathryn Hahn ; illustrated by Brigette Barrager ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2018

Hopeful, playful girlhood guidance.

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An affirming wish list for girls.

Hahn’s opening author’s note sets an affirming tone for the ensuing text and its joyful, hopeful vision for girls—though in the book proper she never mentions the word “girl,” nor does she use a gendered pronoun. Instead, second-person address is combined with illustrations that depict children who all appear feminine (though some wear gender-neutral clothing). It opens with: “My wishes for you are many. / But at the top of the wishes: / I want you to be you.” Some spreads, such as this one, include several children; others depict only one. Throughout, Barrager’s appealing digital illustrations include girls with a range of skin colors and hair textures participating in many activities. But even though text encourages readers to “Love your big beautiful belly,” the girl on this page and those throughout the book all seem pretty thin, and not one is visibly disabled. The late, singular illustration of a girl of color wearing a hijab and standing with seven other girls in the closing spread represents a welcome moment of inclusivity that nevertheless may have readers wishing she were also in a prior illustration showing her engaged in some activity—riding a bike, reading, eating, or somehow interacting with others. Ultimately, this is an affirming, empowering text with accompanying illustrations that charm but don’t rise to meet its promise.

Hopeful, playful girlhood guidance. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-338-15040-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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...

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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)