In this rhyming, illustrated children’s book, a young girl goes to the White House for a field trip and makes an unscheduled visit to the kitchen.
Second-grader Bunny Romero, a recent immigrant to the United States from Mexico, is enjoying her grandmother’s Purim gifts of cookies and a book about the White House when she makes a vow: “Someday, I’m going to eat Nana’s hamantashen in the kitchen of this magnificent place!” Maybe then, she reflects, she’ll finally feel at home in America. Six months later, her teacher announces a class trip to the White House, which delights Bunny. She shows her younger brother a plan of the building, announcing that “the kitchen’s / The best of the bunch / ’Cause that’s where I’ll nosh on / My hamantash lunch!” On the school trip, there’s plenty to see, including the Blue, Green, and Red rooms. But the kitchen isn’t on the tour, so when it’s time to depart, Bunny decides to go off and find it for herself. A commotion ensues as everyone looks for the missing girl, who finds the kitchen and keeps her vow. She also trades some hamantashen for the White House chef’s apple pie and then meets a woman who turns out to be the president of the United States. The backmatter includes a blank “Dream Diary,” historical facts, and a recipe for hamantashen. Alongside the story of a girl’s bold adventure, Blumberg (Avram’s Gift, 2017, etc.) manages to emphasize the important role of immigrants in the United States’ history, writing in an introduction: “As the granddaughter of immigrants who adopted America as their home, I hope that people will always be welcomed and protected here.” The charming, full-color illustrations by Andriani (No Naptime for Janie!, 2017, etc.) underline this theme, showing diverse characters among the schoolchildren and White House dinner guests. A spirit of fun pervades the text and the pictures—in the latter, kids can, for example, look for symbols of Purim and Thanksgiving. There are gloomy stories that could be told about immigration, but celebration is the dominant mood in this book.
Funny, warm, and unreflective of the current White House.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9994463-2-4
Page Count: 57
Publisher: MB Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
Did you like this book?
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
GET IT
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
Did you like this book?
© Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
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.
