A diverting tale about an emotional wheelchair.
A youngster uses a wheelchair that has a mind of its own in David’s picture book.
Grace is a little girl with pale skin and brown hair who wears a heart-shaped pendant necklace. After she works hard on her schoolwork to be named student of the month, her wheelchair starts misbehaving. First, in class, the wheelchair starts speaking out of turn, asking Grace’s classmates and friends questions, and the teacher notices: “Grace, remember to raise your hand to talk. It’s not polite to disrupt the class.” The wheelchair also makes her late to the library, invades the teachers’ lounge, and throws paper airplanes in class. Later, it apologizes and says, “Everyone notices you and talks to you, but nobody notices me or interacts with me. That hurts my feelings.” So, Grace gets her friends involved in helping to decorate the wheelchair with streamers and paint. Solomiia’s full-page, full-color cartoon illustrations don’t always match the story in a meaningful way; for example, the first page shows an unnamed girl in front of a world map, while the text introduces Grace’s excitement about possibly becoming student of the month. The text itself is minimal, consisting of occasional brief descriptions amid dialogue. The story is entertaining throughout, however, and the relationship between Grace and her wheelchair is especially dynamic.
A diverting tale about an emotional wheelchair.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781957696263
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Semper Grata Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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