BEN AND THE SCAREDY-DOG

Name: BEN AND THE SCAREDY-DOG
Author: Sarah Ellis
ISBN: 978-1-77278-044-4

by Sarah Ellis ; illustrated by Kim LaFave ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 2018

Another successful outing in a winning series, with lots of room for more adventures for Ben and his new friends Erv and Max.

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A young boy named Ben makes a new friend and conquers his fear of dogs in this latest offering in a series about learning to deal with new experiences.

In the previous entry in the series, Ben Says Goodbye (2016), the boy had to deal with the loss of his best friend, Peter, when Peter’s family moved away. In this story, Ben watches as a new family moves into the same house, bringing their huge dog with them. Ben and his family are white, and their new neighbors are Asian, with a daughter about Ben’s age named Erv (short for Minerva). When Ben visits Erv at her house, he must face his considerable fear of dogs, including specific worries about canines chasing and biting him “with their strong jaws and big, sharp teeth.” For his part, the friendly dog, Max, is afraid of the slippery, shiny floors in the new house and won’t leave his rug to walk across the floor. Boy and dog conquer their respective fears, with a final, wordless page showing Ben leading Max by his leash as they follow Erv out to play. Ben’s fear of dogs is sensitively portrayed in a text that skillfully interweaves exposition, questions, and dialogue, with Ben’s internal musings set in italics. Amusing illustrations in watercolor and ink make effective use of heavy outlines and copious white space for a clean, contemporary look.

Another successful outing in a winning series, with lots of room for more adventures for Ben and his new friends Erv and Max. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: June 15, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-77278-044-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Pajama Press

Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
DODGER BOY
by Sarah Ellis

- BOOK REVIEW
WAITING FOR SOPHIE
by Sarah Ellis ; illustrated by Carmen Mok

- BOOK REVIEW
BEN SAYS GOODBYE
by Sarah Ellis ; illustrated by Kim LaFave

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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...

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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)