The refrain, “I love being me,” offers a worthwhile affirmation, but cookie-cutter faces undermine the message about...
A book that pays homage to the versatility of black hair.
A dark-skinned black girl, eyes closed, face forward, greets readers on the cover against a bright yellow background, and she wears a pink bow (die-cut out of the case) in her wavy updo. This is one of many hairstyles featured in the illustrations, designed to help readers appreciate the potential for styling natural Afro hair. “Bomb braids,” “pom-pom puffs” and “‘fro-hawk” (an Afro-styled mohawk) also appear. Like these, most of the hairstyle names incorporate alliteration, making them fun to read aloud. At first glance, readers might think this book is about one girl’s hair—which is possible, given how many styles one head of afrotextured hair can sport—but skin color changes, as do clothes, earrings, and other details that are easily altered, although every girl holds the same face-front, eye-closed position. But the sameness of each face leaves no room for variations in other features such as the eyes, lips, and nose. Hence, young readers might consider this a paper version of the video games that allow changes in hairstyles on a face that has limited or no customizability—which also limits the book’s usefulness as multicultural literature.
The refrain, “I love being me,” offers a worthwhile affirmation, but cookie-cutter faces undermine the message about diversity. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9554-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
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
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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