Important and affirming.
A Jewish trans girl longs for her family to see her as she truly is.
Nine-year-old Joey adores playing make-believe, drawing in chalk on the playground, and hanging out with her friends. But something troubles her. She wants her family “to know what I feel in my heart—that I’m really a girl!” On Shabbat dinner each week, Dad gives Joey and her siblings blessings—the boys’ blessing for Joey and her brother, Leo, and the girls’ blessing for her sister, Janie. Tonight, though, when Dad begins to bless Joey, she withdraws, too upset to tell her parents what she feels. But the next day, she opens up, and Mom and Dad respond with love and tenderness. Joey starts to feel comfortable and safe in her home. Ready to transition at school, Joey finally asks Dad to give her the girls’ Shabbat blessing, which Janie is happy to share. The authors have crafted an affectionate yet realistic portrait of a family who make a few mistakes along the way but whose love and support for their child is never in doubt. Tobacco depicts characters with big, expressive eyes, perfect for the book’s most emotional scenes. Most pages feature sidewalk chalk–influenced details, including dark squiggly lines to convey Joey’s anger and sadness. Her rich fantasy life figures prominently, too, as when she imagines herself as a superhero and a princess, announcing her identity to her family. Joey and her family are pale-skinned.
Important and affirming. (Shabbat blessing of the children) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798765663516
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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