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POETRY FOR KIDS

Name: POETRY FOR KIDS
Author: Sophia Shah

by Sophia Shah ; illustrated by Nandkumar Parab ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A brisk and simple set of kid-friendly poems.

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Shah presents a poetry book for young readers, written by a 9-year-old.

The works in this collection highlight difference and employ diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values, as noted in a foreword by Lily Medina, the DEI director the Seattle Country Day School. The poems here address, among other topics, the wonders of time: “Unnervingly astounding / Is the how and the what of time / As the sand runs / Quietly, timelessly /Through the hourglass tonight / As all else is silence” (“As the time drifts”); Halloween costumes (“Queen”), life at a marina: “The life I live next to the water. / There is a free open world...Ah life!” (“Today at The Marina”); and “Diversity Equity Inclusion for kids.” In the latter work, the absence of the letters D, E, or I results in “An incomplete world.” There are two poems that particularly stand out as the highlights of the collections: “You are a girl” focuses on the great things that girls can achieve, and “You are your kind” encourages children of color to be the most authentic versions of themselves: “Your skin does not justify you, nor does it do the opposite”; readers may wish the latter poem weren’t so brief. The book features colorful illustrations by Shah’s grandfather Parab that are often awkward in style; the best feature outdoor scenery, such as one that depicts the aforementioned marina. Overall, the book offers a pleasant introduction to poetry for children, addressing solid concepts that will be easy for youngsters to grasp. The brevity of the collection, and of the poems themselves, also works in its favor.

A brisk and simple set of kid-friendly poems.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2024

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

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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
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

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

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FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)