Much good to see here.
Warm guidance on the difference between looking and seeing.
Verde is well established as a writer skilled at introducing concepts of mindfulness to young readers, with titles such as those in the I Am series, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, to her credit. With this latest offering, she collaborates with illustrator Perdomo to invite children to “slow down— / find stillness, and notice / with patience and curiosity.” First-person narration delivers this invitation in the voice of a child who presents Black. The young narrator first distinguishes between looking at a tree and truly seeing the life it experiences and sustains—“Signs of change and letting go, / flowering and feeding, / shading and sheltering. / A place to call home.” The narrator then directly asks readers what they see in the accompanying, brightly colored illustration of flora and fauna alike in an up-close image of the tree’s branches. The following pages continue in this manner, helping readers “see” both tangible and intangible qualities of the world they inhabit, with illustrations echoing illustrator Karen Katz’s style and expanding on the text to prompt careful examination. While the book is engaging, some may notice a missed opportunity for inclusion of visually impaired people, who, while unable to literally look at the world, can surely perceive a great deal in other ways. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Much good to see here. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781419761638
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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
A riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall.
This book may not have pictures, but it’s sure to inspire lots of conversations—and laughs.
Television writer, actor and comedian Novak delivers a rare find, indeed: a very good celebrity picture book. It doesn’t even seem fair to call it such, since it has nothing to do with his Emmy Award–winning writing for The Office or the fame his broader career has afforded him. The jacket flap even eschews a glossy photo, instead saying “B.J. has brown hair and blue eyes,” in order to keep with the book’s central conceit. What this book does have is text, and it’s presented through artful typography that visually conveys its changing tone to guide oral readings. Furthermore, the text implies (or rather, demands) a shared reading transaction, in which an adult is compelled to read the text aloud, no matter how “COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS” it is. Employing direct address, it pleads with the implied child listener to allow him or her to stop reading. Nonsense words, silly words to be sung and even a smattering of potty talk for good measure all coalesce in riotous read-aloud fare. Although the closing pages beg the implied child reader to “please please please please / please / choose a book with pictures” for subsequent reading, it’s likely that this request will be ignored.
A riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall. (. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4171-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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