A bright and playful read-together story.
In Meyers’ debut picture book, a device-obsessed child is presented with an array of healthier options for spending his time.
“For Jay, each day was quite precise, / It started off with his device.” So begins the story of fair-skinned, brown-haired Jay, who spends hours and hours glued to his tablet. Too much screen time makes Jay tired and mean. His mother tries to interest him in more constructive activities, periodically involving readers in this discussion: “Please tell him what / you think… and quick! / What option for Jay / would YOU pick?” Eventually, Jay goes outside and plays with his neighbors (one Black, one white)…and has a great time. Meyers tackles an issue of relevance to many children and parents. The rhyming text fits a consistent-enough meter and should serve to make a game out of an otherwise serious piece of parental negotiation. Tivey’s illustrations are straightforward and have an element of sameness about them (Jay, for example, hardly changes from picture to picture). Compensating for this lack of dynamism, the images feature bright, vivid colors with ample variation in the background details—Jay’s baby sister is always trying some new activity, and all the suggestions Jay’s mom puts forward are portrayed in miniature, framed-picture illustrations. It’s a cheery book that children should engage with when read to.
A bright and playful read-together story.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9798988117421
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Oak Park Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
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
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