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I AM ME!

Name: I AM ME!
Author: Serena Y. Li
ISBN: 978-1-73720-390-2

by Serena Y. Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2021

Expressive photos and visual diversity; tepid text.

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A short, cheerful board book packed with photos of diverse children.

In Li’s debut, the goal is clearly to show that diversity is worth celebrating. Amusing, engaging photographs of children of a range of ethnicities experiencing a variety of activities are set against illustrator Wong’s cartoonish, bright backgrounds to provide visual interest and fodder for conversation between child and caregiver. Simple fonts and appealing design make for easy, accessible reading. Lack of patterns or clear connections between pictures and text may cause confusion, however. For example, the sentence “We are all different and different is lovely” accompanies an image of a child clutching his face and shrieking in shock; “I am happy because I am me” is paired with an image of a crying child eating watermelon. Disability politics appear briefly: “I have a friend, she has special needs, and she is friendly, just like me” appears with an image of a White girl with Down syndrome who has paint on her fingers—a positive portrayal which sits alongside the dated terminology of special needs and the girl’s implied difference from the implicitly abled narrator, who speaks for all children. While the nod is admirable, the text lacks content or information about navigating disability, finding community, or helping each other.

Expressive photos and visual diversity; tepid text.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-73720-390-2

Page Count: 18

Publisher: Duck Duck Books

Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2021

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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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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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)