This season-spanning turn with high-spirited Sophie offers endearing lessons about nurture and regeneration.
Miller’s debut, in which a little girl affectionately adopts a butternut squash, is a winner.
After her parents buy that squash for dinner at the farmers market, Sophie commandeers it, giving it a face with markers. It proves just the right size to hold, bounce on her knee and love. “I call her Bernice,” Sophie says. “I’ll call for a pizza,” says her mother. Throughout the fall, Sophie coddles her veggie, attending library storytimes, visiting other squash at the farmers market and practicing somersaults near the garden. Her parents do their gentle best to suggest alternatives for the moldering squash, from a trip to the toy store to a donation to the food pantry. Sophie will have none of it. “Bernice will last forever.” When even Sophie notices changes in Bernice, she asks a farmer what keeps a squash healthy. Her unique interpretation of his advice (“Fresh air. Good, clean dirt. A little love”) yields, next spring and summer, delightful twin surprises. Wilsdorf’s amusing ink-and-watercolor illustrations alternate between full-bleed spreads and spots. From her bouncy braids to her red shoes, Sophie’s vibrant, determined nature shines forth charmingly.
This season-spanning turn with high-spirited Sophie offers endearing lessons about nurture and regeneration. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-307-97896-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
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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BOOK REVIEW
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle...
Making things is difficult work. Readers will recognize the stages of this young heroine’s experience as she struggles to realize her vision.
First comes anticipation. The artist/engineer is spotted jauntily pulling a wagonload of junkyard treasures. Accompanied by her trusty canine companion, she begins drawing plans and building an assemblage. The narration has a breezy tone: “[S]he makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!” The colorful caricatures and creations contrast with the digital black outlines on a white background that depict an urban neighborhood. Intermittent blue-gray panels break up the white expanses on selected pages showing sequential actions. When the first piece doesn’t turn out as desired, the protagonist tries again, hoping to achieve magnificence. A model of persistence, she tries many adjustments; the vocabulary alone offers constructive behaviors: she “tinkers,” “wrenches,” “fiddles,” “examines,” “stares” and “tweaks.” Such hard work, however, combines with disappointing results, eventually leading to frustration, anger and injury. Explosive emotions are followed by defeat, portrayed with a small font and scaled-down figures. When the dog, whose expressions have humorously mirrored his owner’s through each phase, retrieves his leash, the resulting stroll serves them well. A fresh perspective brings renewed enthusiasm and—spoiler alert—a most magnificent scooter sidecar for a loyal assistant.
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle characterization for maximum delight. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55453-704-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
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