The idea’s originality and the child-friendly instructions at the end of Book’s tale make this a novel gift pick for the...
When a dog named Egg Cream muddies the cover of his young mistress’s favorite book, the girl figures out how to make everyone feel better.
The text is in the third person, but the story is told from a book’s point of view—a whimsical rarity. The book—aptly named Book—has been waiting, Corduroy-like, for a child to appreciate his fine qualities. (“He was solid and strong. His words were smart and playful.”) After the girl—known simply as “the girl”—has acquired Book, he and the girl are ecstatic companions until the girl’s other love—whom Book refuses to call anything but Dog—manages to muddy Book. The mixed-media illustrations do a beautiful job of capturing such things as the interior of a bookstore, the girl’s love for both her companions and the tragic moment of mud. Fortunately, if unrealistically, the mud has not damaged Book’s pages; Book bravely refuses to cry, as “Tears would ruin his ink and paper.” After a dark night for Book and the girl, the girl wakes up refreshed and ready to solve the problem of Book’s muddy cover. Book’s understanding of the girl’s love for her dog is a particularly poignant inclusion, both textually and visually.
The idea’s originality and the child-friendly instructions at the end of Book’s tale make this a novel gift pick for the juvenile bibliophile. (book-jacket instructions) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59270-168-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
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
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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