bookshelf

THIS BOOK IS MY BEST FRIEND

Name: THIS BOOK IS MY BEST FRIEND
Author: Robin Robinson
ISBN: 978-1-66590-681-4

by Robin Robinson ; illustrated by Robin Robinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2023

A tender reminder of what books offer—comfort, escape, and connection.

bookshelf

A picture book about books—and, of course, BFFs.

A light-skinned, red-haired child and a South Asian child both reach for the same book in the library. Turns out both kids consider Factory Friends their best friend. As the children explain to each other why they each love this book so much, they offer little glimpses into their worlds as well as the one in the pages of the story they have befriended. One child finds the book makes them feel less lonely, especially when they spend hours in the hospital because of their mother’s health issues. For the other child, who has a large and often loud family, the book is a way of disappearing into their own world. Each kid tries to recommend different books for the other, but that doesn’t quite work…until they find a deeply satisfying solution as they spark up a friendship. At times, the text veers toward overexplaining the children’s emotions. However, the gracefully composed illustrations—peppered with speech bubbles, rendered in a muted palette, and alternating effectively between full spreads and vignettes—tell more of the story, offering warm looks at the two characters’ worlds, which are so different and yet each child is seeking the same thing—a friend. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A tender reminder of what books offer—comfort, escape, and connection. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-66590-681-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
NO ONE RETURNS FROM THE ENCHANTED FOREST
by Robin Robinson ; illustrated by Robin Robinson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CITY ON THE OTHER SIDE
by Mairghread Scott ; illustrated by Robin Robinson

bookshelf

ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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...

bookshelf

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

bookshelf

RUBY FINDS A WORRY

From the Big Bright Feelings series

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...

bookshelf

Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.

Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)