by Robin Pulver ; illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
Readers will relate to her disappointment and cheer her on as she comes to her own creative solution.
Irrepressible Mimi and her father have named the day after Friday Dadurday. It is their special day to do everything together. But when Dad’s work schedule changes, their weekend tradition is in jeopardy.
Mop-haired Mimi loves Dadurday. She and her dad make silly-shaped pancakes and read the comics, and each writes a list of activities to do for the rest of the day. Ideas that appear on both lists set the schedule. They have fun going to the library, riding bikes, splashing in puddles and playing checkers. So Mimi is understandably upset with the news that her father will no longer be at home on Saturdays. Suddenly the day has become Madurday or Sadurday. Mother is sympathetic but busy caring for baby twins. When her frustration and bad mood become too much, Mimi explodes in an impressive tantrum that lasts for three pages. But after she calms down, the perfect idea comes to her. Sidewalk chalk, craft supplies and balloons come out. Pancakes are made; party hats created. Dad is in for a happy surprise when he arrives. Pulver’s well-crafted story touches upon an all-too-common situation—parents’ work encroaching on family time. Alley combines watercolor, watercolor pencil, pen and ink to deftly portray Mimi as she grapples with her feelings about something beyond her control.
Readers will relate to her disappointment and cheer her on as she comes to her own creative solution. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8027-8691-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Chloe Dominique ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Pleasant enough but not particularly original.
Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor.
Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless. Children’s dreams can be in-the-moment ones—like purple ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry—or more far-ranging ones, such as growing tall enough to reach that high shelf easily or for hair that’s long enough to braid. It doesn’t matter, the author reassures young readers. Your aspirations will be realized, so don’t give up on them—just keep believing in them and, most of all, in yourself. Throughout, Kotb calls hope a rainbow, a feeling, a gift, and a wish. Hope is “new friends you’ll find— / friends who are loving and funny and kind.” Hope is “practicing your heart out, letter by letter.” The book’s overarching theme is upbeat, but its bouncy rhyming text is clumsy. The child-appealing illustrations are colorful and lively, though they have a generic look. The cast of wide-eyed characters is racially diverse; some have visible disabilities.
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593624128
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
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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