A great book to share with children for social-emotional learning.
Mindfulness teacher Ms. Snowden begins this book by saying, “Let’s talk about the power of words,” and that is exactly what it accomplishes.
This is an easy-to-understand book about the importance of consciously selecting words that are True, Helpful, Necessary, and Kind. When Ms. Snowden writes the acronym THNK on the board, she explains that the missing “i” represents the thinker in the THiNK Test. Later that day, Tyaja, a little black girl with kinky-curly hair, decides to tell her friend Rosie, a little white girl, that she does not like Rosie’s new haircut. Suddenly “four tiny winged people” appear, each representing one of the words in the THiNK Test acronym. These wee advisers give Tyaja enough information about the words they represent to help her determine whether what she wants to tell Rosie passes the THiNK Test. “Isn’t there a difference between an opinion and the truth?” asks Mr. True. Miss Helpful suggests that, since Rosie can’t do anything about her haircut anyway, Tyaja’s offering that opinion is anything but. This book is part of a series (Sergio Sees the Good, 2019, etc.) that features children of different races and abilities in various social learning situations. In this particular offering, the skin tones and facial features of some of the characters change significantly from page to page, which may distract readers.
A great book to share with children for social-emotional learning. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-88448-735-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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