Budding palindrome enthusiasts will want to put this on their radar and make more than a peep along the way.
A romp through the neighborhood guided by wordplay.
From kayak and racecar to her very own name, Hannah finds palindromes wherever she goes. While she’s engaging in imaginative play one day, her “radar” goes off and she encounters a boy named Adam who has lost his beloved cat, Otto. Hannah and Adam embark on a quest for his missing feline while encountering palindromes along the way. After an ebullient search, they finally find their “taco cat” (Otto is gobbling tacos up by a dumpster), and Hannah and Adam further embrace their palindromic spirit by retracing their steps back home. All palindromes used in the text are highlighted in bold, making them easy to identify for those young readers still grasping the concept. Astute readers will notice Otto hiding in many spreads, along with a yellow line throughout the watercolor illustrations representing the path taken by the kitty as well as the eventual journey taken on by the two wordsmiths. Warm pink, tan, and green tones add to the coziness of the story. Those looking to use this as a read-aloud might want to pre-read beforehand, since some of the palindromes are awkwardly placed to accommodate their usage (“race fast, safe car”). Both protagonists read as white.
Budding palindrome enthusiasts will want to put this on their radar and make more than a peep along the way. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781681529042
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amicus Ink
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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