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WHEN YOU HAVE TO WAIT

Name: WHEN YOU HAVE TO WAIT
Author: Melanie Conklin
ISBN: 9781250816542

by Melanie Conklin ; illustrated by Leah Hong ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 9, 2024

A relatable and beautifully rendered tale about the value of patience.

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A child finds contentment in the act of waiting.

Waiting is hard, whether you’re in line on a hot day to get into the pool, counting down the days until Mama returns from a weeklong trip, or yearning to grow tall enough to ride a big bike. For the protagonist, who’s cued Asian, “each second feels like forever when all you want is NOW.” But as time passes, the child discovers value in patience, including meeting a new friend while waiting at the pool. The child also enjoys some independence and develops an appreciation for the little things in life. In her debut picture book, Conklin uses simple, straightforward language from a second-person perspective to convey the struggle of waiting. Readers are bound to see themselves in the protagonist as the child flails in frustration, longs for a hug from a loved one, and worries about the future (“Will I ever be big enough?”). With soft textures and a gentle palette, Hong’s gouache and crayon illustrations perfectly echo the sentiment of the text and inspire a sense of calm mindfulness. The use of white space also encourages readers to pause and focus on small details. In a world fixated on instant gratification, Conklin and Hong make a persuasive case for the sense of joy and connection that can be found when we slow down.

A relatable and beautifully rendered tale about the value of patience. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024

ISBN: 9781250816542

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CRUSHED
by Melanie Conklin

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by Melanie Conklin

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EVERY MISSING PIECE
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GOOD NIGHT THOUGHTS

by Max Greenfield ; illustrated by James Serafino ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2024

Relatable guidance for nocturnal worriers.

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Actor and author Greenfield’s latest picture book follows a child kept awake by anxieties.

The pajama-clad narrator huddles in bed among the blue shadows of a bedroom at night. “Every time I close my eyes, I’m afraid of all the scary stuff I see.” Bright, candy-hued clouds of cartoon images surround the child, lively, disruptive depictions of the what-ifs and exaggerated disasters that crowd out sleep: war (we see the world pop “into a piece of popcorn”), kidnapping (pirates carry away the child’s teddy bear), falling “up” into the sun, tarantulas in the toilet, and a menacing-looking dentist. These outsize insomnia inducers may help readers put their own unvoiced concerns into perspective; after all, what frightens one person might seem silly but understandable to another. Our narrator tries to replace the unsettling thoughts with happy ones—hugging a baby panda, being serenaded by a choir of doughnuts, and “all the people who love me holding hands and wearing every piece of clothing that they own.” But sleep is still elusive. Finally, remembering that there’s a difference between reality and an overactive imagination, the child relaxes a bit: “Right now, everything is okay. And so am I.” Reassuring, though not exactly sedate, this tale will spark daytime discussions about how difficult it can be to quiet unsettling thoughts. The child has dark hair and blue-tinged skin, reflecting the darkness of the bedroom.

Relatable guidance for nocturnal worriers. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024

ISBN: 9780593697894

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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I DON'T WANT TO READ THIS BOOK ALOUD
by Max Greenfield ; illustrated by Mike Lowery

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THIS BOOK IS NOT A PRESENT
by Max Greenfield ; illustrated by Mike Lowery

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I DON'T WANT TO READ THIS BOOK
by Max Greenfield ; illustrated by Mike Lowery

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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...

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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)