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TWO RAINBOWS

Name: TWO RAINBOWS
Author: Sophie Masson
ISBN: 978-1-76012-779-4

by Sophie Masson ; illustrated by Michael McMahon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2018

A lovely city-country story that celebrates finding your place, and your color, in the world around you.

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Spare, poetic text depicts the contrasts and connections between a young protagonist’s life in the country and in the city.

The young narrator, with a blank face, a black pageboy, and skin color that changes hue from spread to spread, spies a rainbow from the window of a house in the city. Recently moved from the country, the child misses the pastoral expanse that’s been left behind. Each color of the rainbow represents bright memories that contrast with the noisy, bustling, gray city: a red mailbox next to a laundromat vs. a shiny red tractor in a field; a tiny discarded orange peel vs. orange twine around fluffy hay bales at sunset; a torn green poster vs. vast green fields after a rain. But then the clouds at the beginning of the book return as violet storm clouds—the same clouds that lowered over the farm. Two rainbows symbolize two lives—each with its own spectrum of colors. Digital illustrations contrast these two environments effectively, juxtaposing tall, monochrome buildings that crowd out the gray sky against small elements of farm life that sit at the bottom of the spreads with the rest of the pages devoted to the vibrant, colorful sky. Sharp-eyed readers will notice other tiny instances of color in the city spreads.

A lovely city-country story that celebrates finding your place, and your color, in the world around you. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-76012-779-4

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Little Hare/Trafalgar

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THERE'S A TIGER OUT THERE!
by Sophie Masson ; illustrated by Ruth Waters

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ROAD TO CAMELOT
edited by Sophie Masson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MADMAN OF VENICE
by Sophie Masson

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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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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)