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NO ORDINARY OLIVE

Newcomer Baker takes on an old topic: How free spirits, however peculiar, allow us to see the world in a different, often better way. Young Olive, from the moment she entered the world, had a mind of her own. Depicted by Tilley (Fribbity Ribbit, 2001, etc.) in the spidery line-and-wash style of Roz Chast, Olive steps to her own beat, though never wildly or disturbingly so. Her parents, bless them, are behind their ragamuffin 100%, start to finish (they may be the true heroes of this tale). Olive’s exuberance—for that is how her imagination manifests itself—finds its first bump in the road in the shape of her teacher, Ms. Fishbone. Of course, her name should be Ms. Boneinthethroat, for a minor disturbance in her class lands Olive at the principal’s office. Mr. Weepole is even more of a stick-in-the-mud than Ms. Fishbone and can’t even see the joy and beauty of Olive having painted his desk in a tropical motif. Fortunately, the science, art, music, and drama teachers do see its beauty, helping convince Mr. Weepole that he ought to loosen up and cut Olive some slack. Olive is sweet enough, but more ingenious feet than Baker’s have trod this ground. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-316-07336-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2002

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OTIS

From the Otis series

Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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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