A fantastic bedtime read, both lyrical and playful.
A child knight delays bedtime as the rest of the castle winds down for sleep.
Each page finds the little knight seeking a way to postpone sleep. “Five more minutes!” shouts the youngster, and when the parent knight offers to read the little one a story, the child asks for two bedtime reads. The parent chases the youngster around the castle, past sleeping hounds, a dozing dragon, and slumbering Sir Horse-a-Lot. Adults will chuckle in sympathy as this caregiver attempts to ready the child for sleep, while kids will love the little knight’s evasive moves. Making use of rich vocabulary (apothecaries, soot), the text hits just the right note, capturing the flavor of a medieval castle (“Troubadours stop strumming lutes. / Nobles end their dance”) while also setting an appropriately soothing tone. The tale flows well when read aloud, with smooth rhymes; adults and kids alike will be eager to make this a bedtime staple. Depicting a vibrant castle full of action, the illustrations imaginatively blend Middle Ages hallmarks with more modern elements. The knights are tan-skinned, with red hair mostly concealed beneath their helmets, while the castle’s other inhabitants vary in skin tone. When the knights finally remove their helmets at book’s end, both are revealed to have long hair; the younger knight’s tresses are adorned with pink bows.
A fantastic bedtime read, both lyrical and playful. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781523527861
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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