A tribute as bright, luxuriant, and giving as Marsha herself.
On a day in June 2020, people across New York City gather in defense of Black trans lives—and to honor queer activist and icon Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992).
“You see…the way we are exactly ourselves, no more, no less? That’s because of Marsha.” Addressing both a young child and readers, a Black caregiver offers glimpses of Marsha’s life: her style, her attitude, her struggles, but most especially her seemingly simple but radical acts of kindness and acceptance. Connecting these past moments to the present, Tourmaline’s text is wonderfully light on its feet, dancing through rather than around the threats faced by Marsha and by Black trans people today while also showing that the sunshine of connection and joy is more than a match for the shadow of all-too-real struggle. A distinctly intergenerational pulse thrums under every word, emphasizing the storytelling and living knowledge at the heart of queer, trans, and Black community resilience and resistance. Kristensen’s illustrations bring Marsha’s full glory to bear as she sweeps not only skirts too fabulous for words, but also a larger-than-life light across the cityscape of her home and her people. Most impressively, Tourmaline brings Marsha the icon into the more intimate space of Marsha the person as she finds joy in accepting herself and others, knowing “that’s how we change the world”—something the youngest of readers will understand they can do.
A tribute as bright, luxuriant, and giving as Marsha herself. (author’s note, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9780593525371
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
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
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