A well-illustrated fantasy tale about following one’s dreams.
In Leya and Saylor’s illustrated children’s book, a young tinkerer helps out the Tooth Fairy.
As a boy named Gabriel gets ready for bed, he counts the stars. While falling asleep, he likes to think about traveling to outer space and working in his makerspace—a workspace where he builds rockets. Building and tinkering is what Gabriel enjoys most in the world, and his teacher, Ms. Birnbry, encourages him to use his “unique mind”to explore new corners of the galaxy. When he loses a baby tooth, his mom reminds him to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Later, Gabriel is suddenly woken by the sound of a sputtering engine: The Tooth Fairy has arrived, and her tiny jetpack is having engine trouble. Enchanted by Gabriel’s bedroom makerspace, she asks for his help with repairs. He’s easily able to fix the fairy’s jetpack and is rewarded for his kindness when the Tooth Fairy shrinks him down to her small size, and they fly to Tooth Fairy Land where there’s a parade every day and a massive orchard of coins in the center of town. Gabriel learns that lost teeth become the stars in Tooth Fairy Land’s sky. He returns home and later awakens to find a note from the Tooth Fairy and some gold coins. Leya and Saylor present a story that effectively encourages readers to follow their passions and help others; the protagonist’s mother and new Tooth Fairy friend both support his skills and dreams; the latter, in a letter, tells him, “May you always shine brightly and continue to dream big.” Sulima’s full-color illustrations are drawn very realistically, and the character images have an angelic quality, reminiscent of Precious Moments figurines. The backgrounds on each page are comprehensive and detailed and will pull readers into the story with their nighttime color palettes of muted greens and blues with occasional orange and purple.
A well-illustrated fantasy tale about following one’s dreams.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9798986947396
Page Count: 28
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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