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HOME FOR GRACE

Name: HOME FOR GRACE
Author: Kathryn White
ISBN: 9798765608326

by Kathryn White ; illustrated by Rachael Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2023

Heavy on emotion but light on information.

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Gentle, inviting pictures evoke empathy as they tell a story both happy and sad.

Jess, a brown-skinned kid, encounters an unhoused refugee outside a storefront. Though Jess’s light-skinned mother is comfortable first acknowledging, then talking with brown-skinned Grace, who wears a headscarf, Jess feels uneasy, thinking her “strange.” But Grace’s cat, Luna, helps spark a friendship. Jess and her mother prepare care packages for Grace and Luna, and, in turn, Grace shares her story: a journey through tyranny, hardship, and devastating loss, portrayed via evocative illustrations juxtaposed with joyful, loving memories. While Grace’s words, perhaps as understood by Jess, are light on details, illustrations tell a much deeper story of what Grace has experienced. Jess and her mother continue to visit, but when winter comes, Grace and Luna are no longer camped outside the storefront. Jess is concerned until a box of gifts appears, letting Jess and Mom know that Grace is safe. Grace’s story is nuanced, and readers will appreciate the depth of emotion conveyed by the illustrations. These provide an entry for conversation about the complexities of poverty, trauma, emigration, and inadequate support for unhoused people. The comforting ending, however, feels overly simplistic and misses an opportunity to further the conversation with more context about forced migration and support. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Heavy on emotion but light on information. (Picture book. 4-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023

ISBN: 9798765608326

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Andersen Press USA

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE TICKLE TEST
by Kathryn White ; illustrated by Adrian Reynolds

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RUBY'S BABY BROTHER
by Kathryn White ; illustrated by Miriam Latimer

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RUBY'S SLEEPOVER
by Kathryn White & illustrated by Miriam Latimer

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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)