A thoughtful picture book on the subject of childhood ADHD, crafted with empathy and playful charm.
In Baskerville’s picture book, a little elephant with a neurodevelopmental disorder finds acceptance in a diverse Pre-K classroom.
On her first day at Pre-K, Olly Brown, a little elephant in a tutu, wiggles, stomps, and dances her way inside, buzzing “around the classroom like a busy bumblebee” as books, papers, and crayons go flying. Olly’s fascinated human classmates overwhelm the little elephant with questions. (“Do you love peanuts? Is that your real trunk?”) The author, a pre-K teacher and child advocate, clearly states that Olly represents a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This deceptively simple picture book shows Olly, overwhelmed by the attention, calming herself by “freezing” in place, taking breaths, and counting to three. Then, at a sympathetic classmate’s suggestion, she whispers her feelings into a “Tattle Pocket.” Olly’s whirlwind movements, and the reactions of the other children (surprise, curiosity, and acceptance) are rendered with gentle humor in Baykovska’s quirky, full-page watercolor and pencil illustrations. Depictions of Olly’s human teacher and classmates reflect racial and ethnic diversity (the children are white, Black, and Asian; one girl wears a hijab). Baskerville follows the story with suggestions for positive strategies that can help young children cope with ADHD, as well as a glossary of terms and greetings in different languages.
A thoughtful picture book on the subject of childhood ADHD, crafted with empathy and playful charm.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9798989734603
Page Count: 35
Publisher: Baski Wiggle Books
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
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
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