bookshelf

BROWN BEAR, WHITE BEAR

Name: BROWN BEAR, WHITE BEAR
Author: Svetlana Petrovic
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5353-0

by Svetlana Petrovic & illustrated by Vincent Hardy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2009

bookshelf

After vying for a young girl’s affections, two teddy bears finally learn that friendship is better than rivalry. When Alice’s grandmothers each give her a bear, they argue about which will be Alice’s favorite. Alice loves both bears, but they don’t love each other—the grandmothers’ quarrel soon becomes their own. They sink to new lows in their jealousy, until finally their antics affect Alice, waking her up at night and making terrible messes. So Alice separates them, placing White Bear in the closet and Brown Bear high on a shelf. But White Bear is afraid of the dark and Brown Bear is afraid of heights. At this point, the story devolves predictably, the two bears bonding together in adversity and coexisting happily ever after. The gently humorous illustrations compensate for the lack of textual subtlety, however. Hardy’s soft, subdued tones allow him to add plenty of detail to his artwork, with brighter colors drawing readers’ eyes toward the focal points. He masterfully portrays facial expression, especially on the two bears. Don’t miss the endpapers, which richly deserve perusal. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-8028-5353-0

Page Count: 26

Publisher: Eerdmans

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- 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

bookshelf

JOE LOUIS, MY CHAMPION

by William Miller & illustrated by Rodney Pate ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2004

bookshelf

One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)