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HERE AND THERE

Name: HERE AND THERE
Author: Tamara Ellis Smith
ISBN: 978-1-78285-741-9

by Tamara Ellis Smith ; illustrated by Evelyn Daviddi ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2019

Needed everywhere.

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A child with newly separated parents grapples with moving back and forth between their homes.

Ivan doesn’t want “to go There (his dad’s new house).” At Mama’s house (which he thinks of as “Here”), Ivan indulges his love of birds by feeding them and mimicking their calls and songs. But when he’s There, he’s still and quiet, refusing to engage with Dad and remaining silent when he hears birds. But when Dad plays his guitar, Ivan can’t resist. “He felt the way he did when Mama lifted him high to pick pears from the branches of their tree. He moved the way he did when Dad pushed him on a swing as high as the sun.” Dad invites Ivan to put words to the song, and he does, with a mishmash of bird calls, cheers, and the words “Here” and “There.” The father-and-son collaboration makes “There” feel more like a home, so much so that Ivan feels he’s lost something when he returns to Mama’s house. She notices he’s still and quiet and successfully draws him out. He hears birds, remembers the song, and sings it to Mama. Appropriately, this isn’t a happily-ever-after story but one that offers affirmation and hope for kids navigating parental separation. In Daviddi’s pencil, acrylic-paint, and collage illustrations Ivan and Mama both have brown skin and dark Afros while Dad presents white. There seems to be little attempt to represent the birds naturalistically, but there is a guide to the calls in the backmatter.

Needed everywhere. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 31, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-78285-741-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Barefoot Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
GRIEF IS AN ELEPHANT
by Tamara Ellis Smith ; illustrated by Nancy Whitesides

- BOOK REVIEW
ANOTHER KIND OF HURRICANE
by Tamara Ellis Smith

- PERSPECTIVES
Bibliotherapy for All

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THE PUMPKIN THIEF

From the Leaf Thief series

by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2026

More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.

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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: today

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SUN THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BISON AND THE BUTTERFLY
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nancy Leschnikoff

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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)