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HOME IS A WINDOW

Name: HOME IS A WINDOW
Author: Stephanie Parsley Ledyard
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4156-3

by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard ; illustrated by Chris Sasaki ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 2019

This sweet, emotionally perceptive book will help make any transition from old to new less scary.

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A multiracial family leaves the comfort and warmth of their old home to establish a new one.

Ledyard’s story begins in the familiar environs of a family’s well-loved and -lived-in home. In gentle, rhythmic prose, Ledyard describes home in myriad ways, from the concrete—“Home is a window, a doorway, a rug, a basket for your shoes”—to the visceral—“Home is Hello, sweet pea, and a hug, a little bit of green” (the last in the form of house plants). Home is not just a house. Home is a place where the family gathers at the table, where mother and daughter wash, rinse, and dry, and where there is always someone to help sweep up a mess. Home is “what feels the same each day”—and also “sometimes what is new.” Houses may change, but home goes with you in the form of “an arm around you tight” and “all that you miss.” Eventually everything will fall into a place, with “a window, sunlight, a corner for your toys.” Sasaki’s rough-hewn illustrations in pencil and marker are cleverly backgrounded with white (to provide focus) and dark space (to evoke melancholy). And his earth-toned, muted palette pairs beautifully with Ledyard’s spare text and the story’s slow, languid pace. The mother presents white, the father presents black, and the two children—a boy and a girl—have brown skin.

This sweet, emotionally perceptive book will help make any transition from old to new less scary. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 23, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-8234-4156-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
SUPERBABY
by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard ; illustrated by Lincoln Agnew

- BOOK REVIEW
PIE IS FOR SHARING
by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard ; illustrated by Jason Chin

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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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CLAYMATES

by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...

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Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.

A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)