Nothing new, but a sweet, reassuring tale about making friends.
To be or not to be…a friend?
This book’s innovative “One Book, Two Stories” design, featuring two parallel stories on each spread, presents protagonists Mae, a brown-skinned, dark-haired Muslim girl (Mom is depicted wearing a hijab), and Joe, a blond, White boy who’s moved into the neighborhood with his dad. Ebullient, outgoing Mae can’t wait to befriend and play with her new neighbor; she even has a welcoming, illustrated letter to give him. Wary Joe, though shy about his newcomer status, wouldn’t mind making new friends. Scouring the busy schoolyard, Mae asks if anyone’s seen the new kid. Meanwhile, Joe wants to join the fun but, feeling ignored, hides at the bottom of the slide’s enclosed tunnel and wistfully reminisces about old friends. Temporarily abandoning her search, Mae whooshes down the slide and collides harmlessly into guess who?—and a new friendship is born. Mae’s and Joe’s winsome, simply expressed narratives, written in first person, should ideally be read one after the other, page by page. Reading them aloud in tandem as the book proceeds permits audiences to pick up on and compare and contrast these characters’ differing behaviors, points of view, and emotions from the outset. Colorful, appealing illustrations deftly portray big-eyed Mae and Joe and their energetic activities; schoolmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new, but a sweet, reassuring tale about making friends. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7112-7571-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
A forgettable tale.
Dot, the smallest reindeer at the North Pole, is too little to fly with the reindeer team on Christmas Eve, but she helps Santa in a different, unexpected way.
Dot is distressed because she can’t jump and fly like the other, bigger reindeer. Her family members encourage her and help her practice her skills, and her mother tells her, “There’s always next year.” Dot’s elf friend, Oliver, encourages her and spends time playing with her, doing things that Dot can do well, such as building a snowman and chasing their friend Yeti (who looks like a fuzzy, white gumdrop). On Christmas Eve, Santa and the reindeer team take off with their overloaded sleigh. Only Dot notices one small present that’s fallen in the snow, and she successfully leaps into the departing sleigh with the gift. This climactic flying leap into the sleigh is not adequately illustrated, as Dot is shown just starting to leap and then already in the sleigh. A saccharine conclusion notes that being little can sometimes be great and that “having a friend by your side makes anything possible.” The story is pleasant but predictable, with an improbably easy solution to Dot’s problem. Illustrations in a muted palette are similarly pleasant but predictable, with a greeting-card flavor that lacks originality. The elf characters include boys, girls, and adults; all the elves and Santa and Mrs. Claus are white.
A forgettable tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-15738-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
A cozy story for cat lovers and anyone looking for a happy ending.
A piebald cat finds a new home.
To a clipped text, a little white cat with black and orange splotches cheerfully scampers through New York City. It scrambles around walking human legs in a “crowded city,” and the “speedy kitty” zips through parks and across busy streets, a dotted yellow line marking its path. The city is “noisy” and “scary,” but the kitty is “brave,” yowling at a pack of dogs from atop Patience the library lion. In that and other instances, the kitty does fine, eating a bowl of fish and performing with a jazz band, but the “cold kitty” in the “snowy city” befriends a White family that takes it home. Miller’s bold, blocky, simple illustrations effectively show an expressive and adorable cat that isn’t exactly lost but clearly wants to be found. Children might wonder where the kitty came from and why it doesn’t already have a family, which opens up opportunities for creative thinking and conversation with young readers. The clever structure, a story told entirely through two-word phrases composed of adjectives and then the nouns “kitty” and “city,” makes for a hypnotic, satisfying read-aloud experience, though the order changes after the first two pages, the only time the kitty precedes the city.
A cozy story for cat lovers and anyone looking for a happy ending. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-241442-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
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