bookshelf

THE STORY OF THE SNOW CHILDREN

Name: THE STORY OF THE SNOW CHILDREN
Author: Sibylle von Olfers
ISBN: 978-0-86315-909-1

by Sibylle von Olfers ; illustrated by Sibylle von Olfers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2013

An old-fashioned delight for new children.

bookshelf

A simple but richly imaginative tale in a tiny book with exquisite illustrations, translated from a 1905 German book.

Poppy (called in the original Marilenchen, little Marilena) stands in the window watching little round snow children swirling and dancing, calling her to play with them. She dresses warmly and is taken on Swirly-Wind’s silver sledge to the Snow Queen’s castle. There, she joins the celebration of the little princess’ birthday with white chocolate and sweet iced tea, beautiful ice flowers and so much dancing that Poppy is exhausted. Although the princess wants her to stay, the Snow Queen gently sends Poppy home with a snowman driver and snow bears to pull the sleigh. Poppy tells her mother of all those wonderful events. Each illustration is framed with panels of snowdrops, beautiful in their perfect line and delicate color. Frozen branches, ice-carved, beribboned arches and the roly-poly snow children make patterns on the pages as finely etched as window frost. The colors are palest of blues and greens, except for the queen’s and princess’ golden hair and Poppy’s scarlet coat and hat.

An old-fashioned delight for new children. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-86315-909-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Floris

Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE STORY OF KING LION
by Sibylle von Olfers ; illustrated by Sibylle von Olfers

bookshelf

THE CRAYONS GO BACK TO SCHOOL

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2023

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.

bookshelf

The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.

Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: May 16, 2023

ISBN: 9780593621110

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DAY THE CRAYONS MADE FRIENDS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE FREDDIE TWO PANTS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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)