A validating, encouraging voice for kids with school-related anxiety.
Henson’s picture book highlights the stresses and benefits of school.
A little girl with auburn hair in a bun, light-colored skin, carrying a schoolbag sits on the school bus fuming: “It repeats EVERY SINGLE DAY! I can think of a million things that don’t have to go to school—so why do we? I don’t want to go to school!” The little, unnamed girl cycles through a list of things that make her anxious about formal education and a few things that avoid such travails. Birds don’t have to put up with bullies, so why should she? Sandcastles don’t have to stand in front of the class and talk, and sunflowers don’t have to take tests and know all the answers. On the other hand, the child reasons, sandcastles “crumble under waves of pressure. The tide washes away their foundations. By going to school, I won’t let an ocean of tears bring me down.” Tran’s watercolor illustrations capture the protagonist’s feelings of nervousness, fear, and confusion, as well as resilience. The prose is poetic at times and avoids condescension, for example, “Fledglings emerge from cracked shells, teach themselves skills to survive” and “Magical masterpieces on the beach mesmerize awe-struck onlookers.” The author shows the very real stressors of school and intersperses these with fun moments of escapism and fantasy, as well as determination, before underscoring the inspiring benefits of education.
A validating, encouraging voice for kids with school-related anxiety.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781738219315
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tielmour Press
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
