A thoughtful, useful, and compassionate guide for talking about morals with kids.
An illustrated children’s book offers a series of affirmative lessons.
In Jonas’ work, young readers are presented with 24 life lessons, accompanied by full-color illustrations and simple questions designed to help them address the issues raised on each page. Kids are asked things like “Can you share something that you like about yourself?”; “What is something kind that you can say or do to help someone to have a good day?”; and “What is something that you would love to be or do when you are older?” Prefacing these questions in each of the book’s brief sections are short discussions aimed at clarifying some of these fundamental life lessons for young readers (and their parents). These include: “There are many children in the world who do not have as much as you do. That is why it’s so important to give things away to someone who is in need”; “It is so important that you find something that you love to do and that is good for you to do.” The uncredited images with these lessons show diverse children playing, attending school, daydreaming in bed, and, of course, interacting with adults, all things that will be immediately recognizable to most kids. The combination of prose and pictures is smoothly and effectively done. The illustrations seem to be mostly generated with basic computer software, which tends to make them more utilitarian than actually eye-catching. And the prose sections are pitched in an intentionally instructional tone, which makes them a more natural fit for being read to youngsters rather than for kids perusing the lessons themselves. But parents looking to discuss these key moral and social issues with children will find this book a great help.
A thoughtful, useful, and compassionate guide for talking about morals with kids.Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9731771-1-4
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Page Turner Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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