by Naseem Hrab illustrated by Josh Holinaty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2018
Being sad has never seemed funnier.
Two irreverent friends navigate the cutthroat world of playground politics in this hilarious picture book about feeling sad.
Ira Crumb, a brown-skinned boy, and Malcolm Cake, a blue dog, are back with humor, friendship, and a shared love of pickles (Ira Crumb Makes a Pretty Good Friend, 2017). On a trip to the playground, the two double over with laughter as they tell a knock-knock joke, but the fun takes a turn when Ira wants to play hide-and-seek but Malcolm wants to play tag. When all their new playground chums prefer Malcolm’s game, Ira finds that his “feelings are feeling feelings.” Ira even passes up a joyful dance-a-thon as he delves deeper into the abyss of his emotions. The dance-a-thon participants try to cheer Ira up, and even his surroundings try to lighten his mood, but Ira does not want to be distracted from his grief. When Malcolm sees how sad Ira is, he has a novel idea…why don’t they be sad together! This brings Ira right out of his funk, and the two bond over fart jokes. This beckons the offense of an actual fart, depicted as a green cloud adorned with a top hat and single spectacle. Nothing can bring two friends together like a classy fart joke! The illustrations are bright and colorful, and the playful use of speech bubbles adds motion and zeal.
Being sad has never seemed funnier. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77147-298-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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by Naseem Hrab ; illustrated by Kelly Collier
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
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
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec
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by Jory John ; illustrated by Erin Kraan
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