A heartfelt celebration of cultural heritage.
Kaveri Thanjavur Jayalakshmi Ganesan isn’t fond of her long name and prefers to go by Kav.
The young protagonist learns about the origins of her names while she, her parents, and her grandmother, whom she calls Paati, journey to celebrate Kaveri Pushkaram, a festival that honors the Kaveri River. Before they leave Paati’s home, the child notices green riverbanks and lush waterfalls. Paati tells her she was named for the river—and for her great-great-grandmother. Next, they buy train tickets for Thanjavur, their ancestral home in Tamil Nadu, India, and one of Kaveri’s namesakes. Paati reminds the child how on their last visit, she got her some bommai, or clay dolls. Kaveri’s mother notes that the child shares both her parents’ names. Both mother and daughter are named Jayalakshmi, after the goddess who protects the river. Finally, the name Ganesan comes from her father’s name, Ganesha. At the journey’s end, where the river meets the ocean, Kaveri finally realizes that her name embodies her birthplace and her heritage. Though earlier, Kaveri mentions that some people “trip over my name,” long names aren’t uncommon in India, suggesting that the child lives elsewhere. While Kaveri’s pride is evident by book’s end, readers don’t get much insight into her emotional state or thoughts; at times, the story feels like a list of cultural touchstones. Still, the artwork is vivid, with striking use of color and depictions of clothing, jewelry, foods, rituals, and distinctive temple architecture.
A heartfelt celebration of cultural heritage. (glossary, author’s note, getting names right, about the Kaveri River, map of South India, poems and sayings about the river) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780593522936
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
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