A joyous celebration of supportive learning environments.
A language-loving boy with a lisp wins his school spelling bee in this autobiographical picture book from Sean and Moses Powe.
Sean Moses, a cheerful Black boy attending a predominantly Black primary school, has an unusual and distinctive way of speaking: “He makes ‘S’ sounds / in such a way, / he sounds just like a snake, / some say.” Sean’s classmates are mostly accepting of this difference. The school is about to hold its spelling bee, and all of the kids are excited to participate. On stage, Sean announces the start of the competition, and while his ‘s’ sounds provoke laughter from the audience of schoolkids, this is a good-natured response rather than anything spiteful. Sean wins the trophy—to much applause—and nobody mocks or begrudges him: “The other children smiled, / and said quietly, / ‘Sean Moses is no different, / from you or me.’” Sean is embraced by his parents, and the three of them drive off into the sunset. The authors tell Sean’s story via non-metered rhymed text, rendered in a friendly bold font and positioned (mostly unobtrusively) in the blank spaces of Kaplan’s two-page-spread digital illustrations. The pictures capture, in a number of ways, the inherent wonder and enthusiasm of preteen kids in a nurturing school environment, highlighting the students’ expressions, their simple, colorful clothes, the hazy, high-spirited atmosphere of the auditorium, and the vibrant swirls that surround Sean whenever he speaks. One slightly distracting element is how Kaplan favors disproportionately large heads when emphasizing how young the kids are, especially when depicting Sean. However, this doesn’t detract overmuch from what is, at heart, a positive and empowering story. The book concludes with an 8-page photo album of young Sean at the actual spelling bee, along with a list of resources for parents of children needing help with their speech development.
A joyous celebration of supportive learning environments.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781735180373
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Fatherless Fathers Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez,...
Abuela is coming to stay with Mia and her parents. But how will they communicate if Mia speaks little Spanish and Abuela, little English? Could it be that a parrot named Mango is the solution?
The measured, evocative text describes how Mia’s español is not good enough to tell Abuela the things a grandmother should know. And Abuela’s English is too poquito to tell Mia all the stories a granddaughter wants to hear. Mia sets out to teach her Abuela English. A red feather Abuela has brought with her to remind her of a wild parrot that roosted in her mango trees back home gives Mia an idea. She and her mother buy a parrot they name Mango. And as Abuela and Mia teach Mango, and each other, to speak both Spanish and English, their “mouths [fill] with things to say.” The accompanying illustrations are charmingly executed in ink, gouache, and marker, “with a sprinkling of digital magic.” They depict a cheery urban neighborhood and a comfortable, small apartment. Readers from multigenerational immigrant families will recognize the all-too-familiar language barrier. They will also cheer for the warm and loving relationship between Abuela and Mia, which is evident in both text and illustrations even as the characters struggle to understand each other. A Spanish-language edition, Mango, Abuela, y yo, gracefully translated by Teresa Mlawer, publishes simultaneously.
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez, an honoree. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6900-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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