Empowers readers to decide who they want to become and gives them tools for figuring that out.
An approachable guide for building social-emotional growth and mindfulness skills in kids and young teens.
Broken into four parts—“Who Am I?”; “What Do I Want?”; “How Can I Serve?”; and “What Am I Grateful For?”—this book offers tools for youth to better understand themselves and to put themselves in charge of what kind of people they want to be. Each section provides an accessible variety of centering activities that require minimal time and supplies, such as breathing exercises, connecting with one’s name, learning about religions, dream journaling, setting intentions, and discovering what brings them joy, to name a few. Each activity comes with guidelines on “time needed” and “location” to perform it along with necessary materials, if any; many are delightfully open-ended: “As long as you want, and over and over again!” Noteworthy in its inclusive approach, this recognizes a variety of experiences and how one’s life is influenced by family, race, religion, nationality, and socio-economic status as well as if the reader is a person with a disability and/or is transgender, homeless, or in foster care. In a section on dealing with disappointment, it acknowledges systemic racism and inequity. Full-page illustrations in cool and calming tones depict peaceful-looking children demonstrating the activities, consciously presenting a racial-, cultural-, and ability-diverse range of youth.
Empowers readers to decide who they want to become and gives them tools for figuring that out. (afterword, resources) (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7624-7122-5
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
Scientifically inclined readers will enjoy this in-depth application of STEM to disabled animals.
Gutiérrez profiles five “bionic beasts,” animals whose prosthetic body parts help them to function.
Matter-of-factly, she introduces three animals that each have only three legs: Lola, a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle from Texas; Mosha, an Asian elephant from Myanmar; and Cassidy, a German shepherd from New York. Pirate, a Berkshire-Tamworth pig from Vancouver Island, has a deformed leg; Vitória, a greylag goose from Brazil, lacks a beak. The animals struggled to move or eat until veterinarians, designers, and doctors teamed up to create innovative prostheses and orthoses. The prostheses’ complex design processes are clearly described. Sidebars provide animal facts and highlight various rescue organizations; the book’s bright yellow and green color scheme complements the accompanying color photos. Though technology is the primary focus, the author acknowledges political and environmental issues in the animals’ habitats, such as ongoing civil wars in Myanmar and oceans cluttered with plastic waste. Activities follow each profile. Some attempt to mimic the teams’ challenges by constructing mock prostheses from household items and exploring strengths and weaknesses of various designs. Others edge problematically into disability simulation, such as imitating Pirate’s walk “to understand how Pirate feels” without his orthosis; though well-meaning, the exercise risks encouraging pity for similarly disabled humans and feels incongruous with other, inclusive instructions: “if you are able”; “or observe a friend.” (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 69.1% of actual size.)
Scientifically inclined readers will enjoy this in-depth application of STEM to disabled animals. (glossary, notes, bibliography, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-8940-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An inviting guide for children (and their parents) to cultivating happiness and helping others.
An illustrated manual focuses on seizing happiness.
McCloud and illustrator Weber reissue on its 10th anniversary the sequel to their 2006 book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The work lays out three rules for readers—children as well as adults—to find happiness in their lives. All three revolve around the author’s concept of people having buckets they can either fill for themselves or others. Rule 1: Be a bucket filler. “Every time you say or do something caring or thoughtful, you add good thoughts and feelings to someone’s bucket,” McCloud writes, adding a crucial detail: “This makes your bucket fuller.” Rule 2 stems directly from this: Don’t dip into buckets, your own or others, because “while bucket filling adds good stuff to buckets, bucket dipping takes the good stuff out.” And Rule 3 is a bit counterintuitive: Use the “lid” on your bucket, because “if you haven’t learned how to stop others from dipping into your bucket, how will your bucket ever stay filled?” In all cases, the author elaborates on the rule in question, giving dozens of variations and examples of how it applies in everyday life. Opportunities to fill buckets abound. As McCloud points out, every instance of simple kindness helps to fill buckets. And likewise, dipping into buckets can be common: Are you complaining? Are you selfish? The author’s valuable reminder throughout this section is that engaging in these kinds of dipping behaviors depletes your own bucket—and ultimately diminishes your happiness. The section on the third rule—being aware of the lid on your bucket—is the book’s most intriguing and nuanced part, assuring readers that using their lids isn’t an act of selfishness but quite the opposite. The manual, featuring Weber’s colorful images, will be illuminating to children trying to figure out their responsibilities to others—and will clarify the thinking of adults as well.
An inviting guide for children (and their parents) to cultivating happiness and helping others.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9960999-9-8
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Bucket Fillosophy
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
