Sure to be a staple in classrooms everywhere.
Sophie gets really, really discouraged.
Bang’s latest offering about blonde, white, emotive Sophie promotes a growth mindset as it details her shift from discouragement to perseverance. While the expressive style of Bang’s vibrant, gouache paintings will be familiar to those who know the previous Sophie titles (When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry…, 1999, etc.), this story seems more text-heavy than its predecessors. This difference isn’t detrimental to the book, however, which begins with a hurtful experience at home. This causes Sophie to adopt a fixed mindset that she isn’t smart enough to succeed in school when her teacher presents a math problem. Sophie’s friends also struggle, and then their teacher introduces them to “the Most Important Word…YET. You haven’t figured it out…YET.” These interactions take place in a classroom populated by diverse students and led by a black teacher, and with her encouragement, Sophie and her classmates keep working to solve the problem in their own ways. The resulting shift to a growth mindset makes them believe they can make progress in their learning. Their teacher celebrates their success at the book’s end, and then Sophie brings her newfound confidence home and uses it to help her father work through a project that’s stumped him. Like the Little Engine before her, Sophie now thinks she can, and that makes all the difference. Bang explains the concepts and her collaboration with educator Stern in an author’s note.
Sure to be a staple in classrooms everywhere. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-15298-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
A reassuring riff on embracing imperfections.
A young rabbit frets about her upcoming violin performance in Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey’s literary debut.
Mei Mei’s dream—“to share her music with the world”—is about to come true. She’s having her very first recital, complete with an orchestra, at the H’Opera House. But the day before the concert, Mei Mei is racked with anxiety. What if she plays a bum note in front of everyone? Sure enough, the worst happens mid-performance: She hits a clinker. But by remembering her mom’s reassuring sentiments from the night before (“Feel the wind…find the notes to make it right”), Mei Mei summons the strength to soldier on, and “wrong notes become right. Dissonance becomes beautiful.” At times, it all feels more like a resilience parable than a story, and the writing can be precious (“The flutter of butterflies wakes Mei Mei from her slumber”). Still, the message is solid, bolstered by O’Hara’s pencil and watercolor illustrations, which are plush-toy soft—fitting, as even prior to this book’s publication, a stuffed Mei Mei has been for sale at Grammy winner Laufey’s website. The tale features an all-animal, all-adorable cast, and endearingly, the art betrays no hint of modern times. A standout image presents Mei Mei onstage, temporarily incapacitated by her mistake and imagining her fellow musicians and their instruments with the color-blasted menace of an expressionist painting.
A reassuring riff on embracing imperfections. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 9798217051748
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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