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THE CHALK GIRAFFE

Name: THE CHALK GIRAFFE
Author: Kirsty Paxton
ISBN: 978-1-68446-096-0

by Kirsty Paxton ; illustrated by Megan Lotter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2020

Makes the burdensome process of reworking art surprisingly engaging.

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From South Africa comes the story of a cantankerous giraffe and the budding artist who created him.

A brown-skinned child, with sizable brown afro puffs and a penchant for yellow, applies yellow and orange chalk to a paved road to draw a giraffe that comes alive. Immediately, the giraffe complains that he’s alone and bored with the gray that makes up his created world. In response, the precocious young artist draws him an acacia tree, then bright green lush grass, then stars and a sun. The giraffe volubly finds each improvement wanting, so eventually the exhausted protagonist rubs him, the tree, the stars, and the sun out with a foot—and then regrets the action. Re-creating the giraffe, the artist is surprised when the giraffe grabs the chalk and draws the child into the picture, which allows the child to see that the giraffe is lonely. Together they draw the giraffe numerous animal friends and congratulate themselves on making “great art,” underscoring the value of editing, revision, and precision to the artistic process. For most of the book, black backgrounds highlight the chalky, textured look of the protagonist’s artwork, each page warm with citrusy colors and grounded with earthy greens that add exceptional brightness. The striking art helps to compensate for the pedestrian, singsong-y rhyming verse and the tedium inherent in documenting the iterative process of revision.

Makes the burdensome process of reworking art surprisingly engaging. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68446-096-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Capstone Editions

Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019

Categories:

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)

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

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

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE BIG CHEESE

From the Food Group series

by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.

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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)