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WILD EVERYWHERE

Name: WILD EVERYWHERE
Author: Katya Balen
ISBN: 9781536243000

by Katya Balen ; illustrated by Gill Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2025

Enticing images of flora and fauna will send readers out on their own personal nature hunts.

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A nature-loving child leaves the countryside for the city.

In place of the wild, with its visible constellations and lovely plants and animals (including, best of all, a beautiful blue-winged bird), the young, light-skinned narrator sees only “gray glass buildings” with “fish scale sides” that cannot be climbed. The urban streets are dark and rainy, and the protagonist laments, “The city is lonely and so am I. I’ve lost my wild.” Printed in a hand-written font, these last four words are nothing less than a cry for help—but one that is soon answered. The blue-winged bird arrives and leads the child to a river that poetically “rolls and twists and shows me the secrets hidden under its tongue.” Once again, birds, animals, plants, and insects appear. The child climbs a tree and exults in nature’s abundance. “A burst of parakeets color the air green.” A fox appears as stars emerge in the sky. The child now understands: “There is wildness everywhere.” With lyrical text marked by clever turns of phrase and imaginative, mixed-media illustrations contrasting muted city scenes with vibrant depictions of the wilderness, this is a strong read-aloud for group and family settings.

Enticing images of flora and fauna will send readers out on their own personal nature hunts. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 22, 2025

ISBN: 9781536243000

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

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FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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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)