An uplifting celebration of one’s uniqueness.
Tave shares an inspiring day in the life of a young girl in this illustrated book for children.
An unnamed young girl with dark skin and curly hair tells the story of a typical day in which she honors everything good about herself while acknowledging times when she “might feel afraid” and need some help sorting things out. Tave’s protagonist appreciates being healthy and having a “brilliant smile” that brings joy. She is “friendly and kind” and has “gifts and special talents” like drawing and dancing. But not every day is perfect: There are times when she feels down, but she tries not to stay that way for long. The author addresses the issue of other children saying mean things and recognizes that ignoring them doesn’t always work; the young girl sometimes needs a trusted adult with whom she can share her feelings. At the end of her day, she returns to the mirror and reflects, “no matter what the day has brought…I’m still the One and Only Me!” Tave’s story is uplifting and provides children with a strong message of positivity while reassuring them that they don’t have to be perfect. The author affirms that children have a lot of inner strength upon which they can draw, but they still may have struggles with fears and stressors. Tave also imparts some wisdom about not being unduly influenced by what is around oneself (or what is on TV). Vign’s bright, colorful illustrations support the text beautifully. The characters are depicted as multicultural and differently abled (some wear eyeglasses, use a wheelchair, or have bigger bodies). Even the backgrounds of scenes include messages of positivity, such as “Smile Strive Succeed” and “We are unique.” The endpapers suggest that the main character has many future options; she might be a scientist, artist, superhero, track star, or student. The text includes discussion questions and activities that further enrich the story.
An uplifting celebration of one’s uniqueness.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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