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HOW TO MAKE A SHARK SMILE

Name: HOW TO MAKE A SHARK SMILE
Author: Shawn Achor
ISBN: 978-1-4926-9472-4

HOW A POSITIVE MINDSET SPREADS HAPPINESS

by Shawn Achor & Amy Blankson ; illustrated by Claudia Ranucci ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020

Does this book have what it takes to help kids in any practical way? Go fish. (Picture book. 4-7)

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As the song goes: “Gray skies are gonna clear up / Put on a happy face!”

With an assist from Blankson, the author of the positive psychology guide The Happiness Advantage (2010) takes his message to children in this newly illustrated reissue of the 2012 title Ripple’s Effect, originally illustrated by Cecilia Rebora. A smiley dolphin named Ripple, new to the aquarium, is eager to make friends. Alas, she discovers that the other sea creatures live in fear of Snark, a bullying shark. Undeterred, Ripple teaches everyone a game in which players must stare into another’s face for seven seconds without smiling. Naturally, this elicits belly laughs among the aquarium’s denizens. When Snark investigates the newfound attitude of the formerly frightened, he’s pulled into the game, and thanks to his inevitable smile, all bullying is henceforth forgotten. Whether readers believe Ripple’s declarations that happiness is a choice (thereby circumventing the existence of depression and mental illness) is rather beside the point. Children are meant to glean from this book methods that help increase their own happiness, illuminated by the book’s backmatter. Alas, the story eschews practical methods of handling bullying. Nor, for that matter, does it confront the idea that sometimes a bully can experience great happiness…from the misery of others. Colorful, peppy art perfectly plays up the book’s un-nuanced can-do attitude.

Does this book have what it takes to help kids in any practical way? Go fish. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-4926-9472-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little Pickle Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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RUBY FINDS A WORRY

From the Big Bright Feelings series

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...

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Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.

Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.

A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)