May teach kids that it’s OK to ask for help, but it’s unlikely to be a repeat read.
Gary Giraffe learns to ask for help even when he feels the task is something he should be able to do alone.
Gary has finally attained the milestone of his 6th birthday. Now he’s old enough to eat the best acacia leaves up high—but his excitement is tempered by his repeated failures to reach them. Each try finds him falling over. Tye Tickbird, Gary’s best friend, finally flies down and reminds him, “When you can’t do something all by yourself, you ask a friend or family member to help.” Gary’s friends (a cheetah, an elephant, a lion, and Tye) tell him that no matter their age, everyone needs help with something, and there’s nothing wrong in asking for it. Their solution—one weighting down a branch, two others anchoring Gary’s legs—works, and Gary gets a bite of leaves. Gary’s expression often seems static, and while McDonnell’s cartoon illustrations reflect the tale, they don’t add much beyond it aside from a cringe-inducing image of two lionesses fawning on the lion. Chikowore’s tale is both pedantic and contrived; why would giraffes (even anthropomorphized ones) base their ability to eat high leaves on age rather than height? But nonetheless, the author’s lengthy backmatter note explains how important it is that children acquire the skill of asking for help and how parents can help accomplish this.
May teach kids that it’s OK to ask for help, but it’s unlikely to be a repeat read. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4338-2946-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
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
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