by Patty Lovell ; illustrated by David Catrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2020
An encouraging message in a quirky package.
Molly Lou Melon uses her voice to stand up for a new friend 19 years after she learned to stand up for herself.
Molly Lou Melon, “a tiny girl with a big, deep-down heart,” is true to herself, as her mother tells her to be. She accepts people for who they are, and she uses her strong voice to “speak up for anyone who might need [her] help.” At school, when Bettina Bonklehead teases Molly Lou and her friend Ronald with “kissy-kissy boyfriend-girlfriend,” Molly Lou defends their friendship. When Bettina teases the new boy, Molly Lou defends him and asks him to play at recess. After standing up for him ferociously, Molly Lou leads her friends in giving mean Bettina the option of being a friend too. Lovell’s text places this strong protagonist at the centers of a loving family and friend group, making her a role model for readers, with her fearless standing up and speaking out. Catrow’s illustrations are borderline fantastical, with birds riding in toy trains and Molly Lou wearing a backpack thrice her size. The ponytail (sometimes multiple) that sticks out beyond her Afro is a superlatively odd touch. Molly Lou has beige skin, and the very odd-looking new boy has brown skin while the other kids, no more peculiar in aspect than Catrow’s typical kewpie, seem to have pale skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 63.9% of actual size.)
An encouraging message in a quirky package. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-399-26002-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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by Patty Lovell & illustrated by David Catrow
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 Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017
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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by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Mike Boldt
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by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Mike Boldt
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by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Ana Aranda
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