A respectful boost of encouragement for young minds that may be struggling with school.
A girl discovers that her passions can help her make sense of a difficult skill.
Bug is a girl who loves drawing bugs more than anything else, “especially math.” When her teacher, Mrs. Muskie, announces that they will go to the science museum, which has a cool bug room, if the class performs well on the upcoming math test, Bug takes the challenge seriously. She goes to a field to study but, frustratingly, finds herself continually distracted by new bugs to draw. After several failed attempts, she realizes that her doodles hold the visual key to understanding the math problems: adding spots on a butterfly’s wings and subtracting the number of ants that drop their seeds. Notably, Koontz acknowledges her young character’s agency by having Bug independently come to this revelation and later calmly assist Mrs. Muskie when Bug’s “lucky crickets” (stashed in her lunchbox to help with the test) get in her hair. The latter moment offers a spot of fun for Bug’s multiracial classmates. Pale-skinned Bug is precocious with her short, light-brown hair, rolled-up pants, and antenna headband; Mrs. Muskie has brown skin and a “cloud of curly hair.” Proud’s illustrations in pencil and acrylic take on the style of doodles themselves, with pronounced, colored outlines and circular eyes for characters and bugs alike. The crawling critters appear charming instead of off-putting.
A respectful boost of encouragement for young minds that may be struggling with school. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2356-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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