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BETWEEN WORDS

A FRIENDSHIP TALE

A pitch-perfect tale for shy friend-makers everywhere.

How do you find the right words to make a friend?

Young Kai lives a nomadic life with his father, setting up camp “on windy plains, by lapping lakes, near dusty villages.” Everywhere, Kai sees children talking and playing, but he doesn’t join in, self-conscious about his language barrier and other differences. Instead, he finds solace in creating piles of rocks that mark their home for as long as they stay in one place. Kai tops each cairn with his favorite spotted rock, which resembles the night sky. When Kai’s father decides they’ll stay in one place for a while, Kai tries to talk to the other children. But they laugh at his strange words and run away. In anger, Kai smashes his cairn, kicking his special rock into the sea. Stricken, he jumps in after it and meets a young mermaid who understands his stone-building language. Vivid, wordless scenes awash in sea-glass green with yellow, orange, and red accents convey the warmth and playfulness of the children’s interactions. Kai gifts his special stone to his new friend and returns to land, having found the language he needs to build a new friendship. Through powerful visual storytelling, this exquisite tale makes clear that words aren’t necessary to develop a truly lasting bond. Characters are brown-skinned; in an author’s note, Tanaka explains how she drew on her Japanese and Mexican heritage to develop Kai’s story.

A pitch-perfect tale for shy friend-makers everywhere. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: May 21, 2024

ISBN: 9781338736250

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

Safe to creep on by.

Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024

ISBN: 9780593702901

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024

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