by Maggie C. Rudd ; illustrated by Kelly O'Neill ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2021
The focus on being “nice” in lieu of genuine kindness, honesty, respect, and sharing makes this a less-than-nice read.
What does it mean to be nice? And does being nice equal doing the right thing?
This book attempts to share lessons in social-emotional learning but misses the mark in a few places. In the opening scene, a child is sad that a visiting cousin takes a treasured toy robot to play with. He breaks it, and the text notes that “sometimes being nice is really hard.” In another scene, a different child is given a plate of tuna noodle casserole. To spare Grandma’s feelings, the kid chokes it down. This behavior may seem nice on the surface, but this dishonesty does not help Grandma or the child. In a final example, a third youngster waits in line for the slide when another kid jumps the line. The child who was waiting patiently is told by Mom to let the other kid go first. Disregarding this instruction, the waiting child takes their rightful turn on the slide anyway, but “somehow it isn’t as fun.” The second-person narration continues, “Next time you’ll let him go first.” The book offers some feel-good examples of “nice” behavior, but overall, it paints the unfortunate picture that being nice means suffering for the sake of someone else’s feelings or, worse, their poor behavior. O’Neill supplies bland, stiff scenes featuring a cast of racially diverse children of multiple gender presentations.
The focus on being “nice” in lieu of genuine kindness, honesty, respect, and sharing makes this a less-than-nice read. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8075-7573-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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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...
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
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