A well-illustrated and accessible travel tale.
Diaz’s picture book celebrates visiting family members who live far away.
Young New Yorker Noah is excited to leave for a Christmas vacation in Puerto Rico, where family members live. Noah’s friend, Tito the coqui (a small frog), is coming, too. Tito stowed away in Noah’s luggage when he came from Puerto Rico the year before, and he’s excited to go home. Noah isn’t entirely fluent in Spanish, but he’s excited to use what he knows during his trip. After arriving, the family visits El Morro in Old San Juan and gets snow cone–like piraguas. At the beach, Noah has trouble ordering snacks in Spanish, and other kids tease him for not being a “real” Puerto Rican. Later, Abuela helpfully explains that where a person lives doesn’t negate their culture, and Noah finally feels at home with his Boricua family. Readers will find this to be a relatable story about family and fitting in. Kuba’s full-color cartoon illustrations are realistic and skillfully done. The backgrounds are full of detail, and the characters are diverse in many ways; the images include small details such as facial jewelry, as well as varied skin tones and body shapes. Tito has his own adventure in the background of the story, which readers can also follow. A fair amount of clear Spanish vocabulary is included.
A well-illustrated and accessible travel tale.Pub Date: March 25, 2024
ISBN: 9781960603036
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Fly the World Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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