A sweet look at what familia can mean.
A Mexican American child meets her whole extended familia for the first time.
In Mami’s small pink car, Mariana moves across the frontera and into “a jumble of mismatched buildings of all shapes and sizes” as she takes in the sights and sounds of México. Finally, the two of them arrive at Abuelita’s door, and Mariana grabs onto Mami as a shadow looms behind some drapes and a couple of other children peek out. Inside, Mariana’s whole family greets her, but not even Abuelita’s hug and kisses soothe Mariana’s worries. After all, who wouldn’t feel shy standing in “this house filled with brand-new people”? When Mariana hands out presents to her familia, she misspeaks and calls her Abuelita “agualita,” spurring the other children to start giggling. Embarrassed, Mariana retreats into herself until Abuelita comes to her aid with a storybook full of pictures, crispy quesadillas, and creamy frijoles and arroz, subtly teaching the girl Spanish words. By book’s end, Abuelita and Mariana—and everyone else—come together as familia. Measured in its empathy, this tale admirably explores a familial scenario that many readers will understand all too well. Kudos also to Meza’s eclectic, colorful artwork, which features double-page spreads full of slightly unusual perspectives that reflect Marians’s initial discomfort. Though Spanish words are unitalicized, during crucial moments, a few specific Spanish words appear on the page as vibrant standouts, a visual cue of shared affection. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet look at what familia can mean. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-296246-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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