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THE LAST LAST

Name: THE LAST LAST
Author: Wendy J. Whittingham
ISBN: 9781773068657

by Wendy J. Whittingham ; illustrated by Brianna McCarthy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Affecting and optimistic.

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Leaving behind a beloved Caribbean island home, a child confronts fears of change and the unknown.

With plaited ponytails hanging playfully from pink hair ties, the brown-skinned protagonist looks on unhappily as Mum and Grannie pack up, surrounded by smiling friends and family. “But I don’t know what to take!” says the young narrator. The child decides to go for one final walk, meandering barefoot with a heavy heart past chickens and loose dogs, beneath birds, and toward the beach to enjoy a few final “lasts”—the “last chew of sugarcane, last smell of sweet roast corn.” By the sea, the youngster is enchanted by a “swirly shell”: “Now I know what to pack.” McCarthy’s richly hued gouache and acrylic illustrations exude warmth: The inviting blue of the water nearly matches that of the vast sky, while fuchsia, green, and orange florals pop off the page. She continues to employ bright, dynamic colors as the family travels by plane to an unnamed city, a yellow taxi contrasting with the rest of the traffic. The family’s new home is “enormous,” but the protagonist, hair now in loose coils and tied up in a blue bow, maintains a connection to natural spaces, even befriending a blue jay. Whittingham’s delicately charming tale comes to a gently hopeful conclusion; the depiction of a youngster independently making sense of the turmoil of relocating will speak to children confronting similar changes, big and small.

Affecting and optimistic. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9781773068657

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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)

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

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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)