A vibrant depiction of the exquisite imagination of an underrepresented child.
A girl with autism and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome dreams of universes beyond what science can measure in this whimsical nighttime-hued picture book.
Eliza Dee knows her science about the sky: “The sun is a star, always shining, even at night,” and even when the moon doesn’t look like a sphere, it is. But when she dreams, it’s her creativity that shines. She imagines herself as a pixie traveling in the space between universes, where she uses pixie dust to turn the outline of a leaf to full color. As her wonder grows, so does her imagination, until finally, she realizes she can create any universe in her mind. Her fancies conclude with a question, as Eliza Dee wonders what the reader will dream. Vitsmun and Mikki create a vibrant imaginative space, first grounding the peach-skinned, rosy-cheeked Eliza Dee in the real world of the night sky, looking through a telescope or sitting in a room decorated with real-world constellations. Mikki introduces a riot of color in the dreamscape, featuring a hodge-podge of invented animals and fish with wings. Vitsmun’s vocabulary is accessible, with short sentences that span many images. In a note, Vitsmun points out that Eliza Dee’s conditions are considered “invisible disabilities”; without these notes, readers might not realize Eliza is neurodivergent or that her imagined worlds are due to hyperphantasia. The star’s hypermobility is subtly evident in the way Mikki depicts her seated positions, particularly in the real world, where she crosses legs or kneels in a way that her flexibility makes possible.
A vibrant depiction of the exquisite imagination of an underrepresented child.Pub Date: April 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781839195259
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Hypatia Press
Review Posted Online: June 20, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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