A cheery first glimpse at school.
Tour a school full of art, music, and friendship in Sala and Hoang’s beguiling picture book.
“¡Hola! Soy Ramón.” A brown-skinned Latine child stands in front of la escuelita, which is adorned with a rainbow calling for peace. Our young narrator is here to guide readers through this little school, with its gran árbol (big tree) where Ramón and the other kids start the day, and their salón de clases (classroom), where the students learn arts and crafts, numbers, and kindness. Starring alongside the pint-size chaperone is a class diverse in skin color, culture, and ability. In the library, Señora Martinez reads aloud during storytime to a chorus of “¡Uno más!¡Uno más!” before the students disperse to find books of their own for the week. Music class provides opportunities to bang on the bongos and practice merengue under the tutelage of Señor Suarez, while recess offers moments of elated screams and impressive cartwheels as a shout of “¡Tamales!” comes from the street outside. In place of a formal glossary, Sala’s cozy Spanglish text relies on its accompanying illustrations (with differing levels of success) for contextual translation, pulling readers along on an idyllic school day through Ramón’s affable narration. At its core, Ramón’s little school showcases a much-needed appreciation for educators. Hoang’s scrappy artwork, meanwhile, boasts focal points of color and smiles galore among predominantly white backdrops.
A cheery first glimpse at school. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781536236538
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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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
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