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ROSE BY THE SEA

Name: ROSE BY THE SEA
Author: Rebecca Rose Mooradian
ISBN: 9781665944137

AN ARMENIAN JOURNEY OF COURAGE AND HOPE

by Rebecca Rose Mooradian ; illustrated by Myo Yim ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2026

An affectingly gentle immigration story set against a pitiless backdrop.

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Having lost their parents in the Armenian genocide, two sisters must make their way to safety.

“Rose is the flower by our kitchen door…Rose is what my parents call me, too: Dzovinar, their rose by the sea.” So begins this poignant immigration story that uses colors as touchstones—a masterly metaphor that makes a devastating history comprehensible to a young audience. “Brown is the soldier’s boot print on our front door” introduces a section on Rose’s parents’ abduction. Black is “the night we cross the desert” and the color of Rose’s father’s warm coat, which she wears to remind herself of him. Gray is “the house at the edge of Adiyaman,” where a Turkish woman hides the sisters, making it possible for the girls to catch a boat to Marseilles and eventually reach America, where they “paint [their] front door rose, for me and the home we left behind.” In her author’s note, Mooradian briefly discusses the Armenian genocide (1915-1917) and reveals that the book is based on her great-grandmother’s journey. Her choice to omit this information from the main text was a sound one; by skipping historical particulars and dates, this tale of perseverance and abiding humanity takes on a timeless aspect. Yim’s painterly art reflects Rose’s color references and brightens with the girls’ prospects, although the richest illustrations pointedly and poignantly incorporate gloomier hues, reflecting Rose’s determination to remember her past.

An affectingly gentle immigration story set against a pitiless backdrop. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 3, 2026

ISBN: 9781665944137

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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THE ADVENTURES OF HENRY WHISKERS

From the Adventures of Henry Whiskers series , Vol. 1

by Gigi Priebe ; illustrated by Daniel Duncan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 3, 2017

Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales.

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The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) upgrades to The Mice and the Rolls-Royce.

In Windsor Castle there sits a “dollhouse like no other,” replete with working plumbing, electricity, and even a full library of real, tiny books. Called Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, it also plays host to the Whiskers family, a clan of mice that has maintained the house for generations. Henry Whiskers and his cousin Jeremy get up to the usual high jinks young mice get up to, but when Henry’s little sister Isabel goes missing at the same time that the humans decide to clean the house up, the usually bookish big brother goes on the adventure of his life. Now Henry is driving cars, avoiding cats, escaping rats, and all before the upcoming mouse Masquerade. Like an extended version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), Priebe keeps this short chapter book constantly moving, with Duncan’s peppy art a cute capper. Oddly, the dollhouse itself plays only the smallest of roles in this story, and no factual information on the real Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included at the tale’s end (an opportunity lost).

Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales. (Fantasy. 6-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4814-6575-5

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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MUMBET'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

by Gretchen Woelfle ; illustrated by Alix Delinois ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2014

A life devoted to freedom and dignity, worthy of praise and remembrance.

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With the words of Massachusetts colonial rebels ringing in her ears, a slave determines to win her freedom.

In 1780, Mumbet heard the words of the new Massachusetts constitution, including its declaration of freedom and equality. With the help of a young lawyer, she went to court and the following year, won her freedom, becoming Elizabeth Freeman. Slavery was declared illegal and subsequently outlawed in the state. Woelfle writes with fervor as she describes Mumbet’s life in the household of John Ashley, a rich landowner and businessman who hosted protest meetings against British taxation. His wife was abrasive and abusive, striking out with a coal shovel at a young girl, possibly Mumbet’s daughter. Mumbet deflected the blow and regarded the wound as “her badge of bravery.” Ironically, the lawyer who took her case, Theodore Sedgwick, had attended John Ashley’s meetings. Delinois’ full-bleed paintings are heroic in scale, richly textured and vibrant. Typography becomes part of the page design as the font increases when the text mentions freedom. Another slave in the Ashley household was named in the court case, but Woelfle, keeping her young audience in mind, keeps it simple, wisely focusing on Mumbet.

A life devoted to freedom and dignity, worthy of praise and remembrance. (author’s note, selected bibliography, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)