Sure to strike a chord with imaginative youngsters.
Fiona has a vivid imagination…or does she?
Although Fiona has been fascinated by winged horses, gnomes, unicorns, mermaids, and ogres, now she loves fairies. They’re all she can talk about. When her teacher suggests building a fairy house so fairies will visit, Fiona asks her family to help, but her parents are occupied tending to the cat (several comical scenes depict the feline making a mess and being bathed), and her brother tells her fairies aren’t real. So she forages alone for supplies and finds the perfect location, an old sycamore tree with great roots and a round hollow. Unfortunately, as Fiona inventories her supplies, the traumatized cat zooms by, followed by her family, and all the supplies are lost. Fiona despairs. What if her brother is right and fairies and the other mythical creatures aren’t real? Luckily the tree hollow has an answer, and Fiona’s “imaginary” creatures emerge one by one with everything needed to build a fairy house…everything, that is, except a way to glue the pieces together. But the group finds a solution, and soon the fairy house becomes party central for Fiona’s creature friends. Ogre even saves a seat for Fiona’s doubting brother. Readers with scoffing siblings will be empowered by Fiona’s persistence and success. Cartoonish illustrations portray an idyllic setting with downright endearing mythical creatures—even the pea-green ogre appears pleasant. Fiona, her brother, and her mother are tan-skinned; her father is lighter-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sure to strike a chord with imaginative youngsters. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781250792570
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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