A heartening, sweet, and distinctive look at one unusual migrant’s successful quest for a new home.
A town flocks together to welcome an unexpected fuchsia visitor.
Rose, a new flamingo in town, travels through the pages “in search for a flock of her own.” Her bright color makes her a good fit in a bridal party. Her flair allows Rose to be admitted in a flamenco dance troupe. And the flamingo’s iconic standing position qualifies her for a yoga class. As Rose searches for a family, readers are prompted to see which of Rose’s qualities make her both fit into each particular group and stand apart from them. Although she’s a good candidate for multiple groups, “none of them felt quite right.” The whole town becomes invested in making Rose a part of their flock, and townsfolk begin, as the title indicates, painting it pink to make the flamingo feel welcome in their society. Pink foods, pink yarns, and pink landmarks are all part of the town’s efforts to maintain their most “flamboyant” visitor as a permanent resident. Doody’s (Mallard Mallard, Moose, 2018, etc.) playful illustrations elicit sympathy from readers as Rose searches for a place to belong, delicately lined cartoons depicting the multiracial residents of this small Newfoundland city interacting with the bird. The backmatter, although concise, provides interesting facts about flamingos such as their life span and the origin of their pinkish hue.
A heartening, sweet, and distinctive look at one unusual migrant’s successful quest for a new home. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-927917-21-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Running the Goat
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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
A disappointing follow-up.
Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).
While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.
A disappointing follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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