A fact-filled, candid, and reassuring introduction to the ins and outs of hospitals.
Hospital workers truly do heroic work.
Tomorrow’s Parade Day in Breezy Valley, a city populated by anthropomorphic animals, but its sick and injured residents still need help. At the hospital, doctors, nurses, and other vital personnel spring into action. As this fast-paced book unfolds, readers follow the activities of numerous hospital heroes as well as an especially important patient. Lemur, the parade’s bandleader, has an injury (as he tells doctors, “My drum kerplopped on my tail”). A simple operation sets things right, but he must remain in the hospital overnight. Will the parade be canceled? No! Several hospital heroes “operate” on the drum so that all will proceed as scheduled—but not before Lemur leads a special Thank You Concert for the staff. In painstaking detail, Alley explains virtually everything that curious kids might want to know about hospitals, relying on both text and numerous labels and arrows. Reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s work, the jam-packed, busy illustrations often appear in graphic novel–like panels, with characters’ dialogue conveyed in colorful speech bubbles. While the diminutive pictorial labels are sometimes overwhelming, the information, delivered in a matter-of-fact, upbeat tone, will allay reader apprehension, and the parade angle provides a cheerful backdrop. The all-animal cast exudes sunny professionalism; sound effects are liberally incorporated into the artwork.
A fact-filled, candid, and reassuring introduction to the ins and outs of hospitals. (quiz, additional hospital facts) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781662670299
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kane Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A cozy read to share, especially with beloved older relatives.
A mutual love of pie seals an affectionate relationship.
Noor and Granddad are separated by an ocean (though their locations are unspecified). Still, they share a common passion—pie—which they eat together every summer, when Noor and Mom travel by plane to visit Granddad and Nana. Then Noor and her grandfather bake up a storm. The most special—albeit bittersweet—one is the “time-to-say-goodbye pie,” the signal that it’s time for Noor and Mom to leave. But Noor and Granddad still meet virtually for their Friday “pie reports,” where they discuss what’s going on in their lives. Just before Noor leaves this summer, she learns that Granddad’s health is declining; his “arm [has] been shaking more than usual.” Granddad calls these incidents “blue days.” As Granddad’s symptoms increase, he skips their pie reports, so Noor writes her reports and reads them aloud at their next visit. When necessary, Granddad rests; sometimes, he’s better. At story’s end, Noor gives Granddad a hopeful card that reads “For when you need to find your way out of the blue” and tells him he’s stronger than he knows. This upbeat, warmhearted tale bubbles with sweetness; children will appreciate the protagonists’ intergenerational bond as well as the food theme. The delightful illustrations were created with pencil and graphite sticks on paper, then digitally colored; kids will savor those pastries. Noor and Mom have light-brown skin. Granddad is lighter-skinned, and Nana is brown-skinned.
A cozy read to share, especially with beloved older relatives. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781459838079
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A full-hearted valentine.
A soaring panegyric to elementary school as a communal place to learn and grow.
“This is a kid,” Schu begins. “This is a kid in a class. This is a class in a hall….” If that class—possibly second graders, though they could be a year to either side of that—numbers only about a dozen in Jamison’s bright paintings, it makes up for that in diversity, with shiny faces of variously brown or olive complexion well outnumbering paler ones; one child using a wheelchair; and at least two who appear to be Asian. (The adult staff is likewise racially diverse.) The children are individualized in the art, but the author’s narrative is addressed more to an older set of readers as it runs almost entirely to collective nouns and abstract concepts: “We share. We help. / This is a community, growing.” Younger audiences will zero in on the pictures, which depict easily recognizable scenes of both individual and collective learning and play, with adults and classmates always on hand to help out or join in. Signs of conflict are unrealistically absent, but an occasional downcast look does add a bit of nuance to the general air of eager positivity on display. A sad face at an apartment window with a comment that “[s]ometimes something happens, and we can’t all be together” can be interpreted as an oblique reference to pandemic closings, but the central message here is that school is a physical space, not a virtual one, where learning and community happen. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A full-hearted valentine. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0458-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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