A silly but thoughtful and enjoyable tale that features quirky characters.
Two plucky lobster-shaped socks get separated in this picture book.
Emily, a light-skinned young woman, receives a pair of hand-knitted, lobster-shaped socks from her grandmother and is shocked to discover they can talk. Additionally, the anthropomorphic socks have distinct personalities. Sebastian, the left sock, is cranky while the right one, Lola, is warmhearted. Still, the two are “best friends.” Emily takes the lobsters to the laundromat, where they get washed and dried and meet a cat named Bubbles. On the way home, Lola falls out of the laundry basket. When Sebastian realizes his pal is missing, he experiences emotions like depression and anger. Finally, he feels acceptance. But then “Sebastian started thinking, ‘What would Lola do?’ Actions speak louder than words! He decided to look for her.” Lola, stranded in the street, feels scared and alone but calms herself by taking deep breaths. When Bubbles hears her cries, the feline retrieves the sock and takes her home, carrying Lola in her mouth. Lola is thrilled when she spots Emily and Sebastian hanging up “Missing” posters, indicating that they’re worried about her. The socks are relieved to be reunited. Although the concept in this engaging story is humorous, Bulriss deftly emphasizes essentials ideas for youngsters, such as effectively handling emotions and building resilience. The author’s illustrations offer colorful, graphic, and cartoonlike portrayals. Most show up-close depictions of the socks’ expressive faces.
A silly but thoughtful and enjoyable tale that features quirky characters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 33
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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