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HOME OF THE WILD

Name: HOME OF THE WILD
Author: Louise Greig
ISBN: 978-1-78250-713-0

by Louise Greig ; illustrated by Júlia Moscardó ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2021

Lyrical language and realistic illustrations honor the natural world and a loving relationship.

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A timeless story about being one with nature.

Although set in Scotland, this story could occur anywhere with tree-covered hills and valleys, deer, and humans with caring hearts. In the rural home of an unnamed boy and his mother, both with ginger hair and pale complexions, drawings of the animals the boy has helped and a bookcase full of field guides dominate a wall. The boy is clearly at home in the wild, and when he finds an abandoned fawn, naturally he brings her home to care for. His mother sets the limits: “She can stay till she is strong, / but the wild is where fawns belong.” While spring turns to summer, then to fall, the boy and deer, named Alba, are happy and inseparable. When the fawn returns to the wild, the dejected “boy sits silent, alone as the moon” beneath a pine tree, his head bowed on his arms. A sudden storm, gently but effectively evoked in both text and delicate line-and-color illustrations, sends the boy racing through the woods, “for he knows roaring storms / do not care about gentle fawns.” The boy is soon lost, but his once-helpless fawn “leaps, / from fallen tree to slippery stone” to become the boy’s rescuer and comforter. Terms specific to the Scottish countryside, like burn and glen, will prompt discussion, as should the caution to leave actual wild animals undisturbed.

Lyrical language and realistic illustrations honor the natural world and a loving relationship. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-78250-713-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Floris

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
SWEEP
by Louise Greig ; illustrated by Júlia Sardà

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NIGHT BOX
by Louise Greig ; illustrated by Ashling Lindsay

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)