Sweet, funny, and reassuring.
A very young lion’s new glasses are so big, round, and red that he is driven to great lengths to hide them.
Rex is certainly inventive as he devises all sorts of schemes for making those despised glasses go away, or at least seem as unobtrusive as possible. He puts them in the cereal box, but Daddy catches him in the act. At school he uses his mane to cover his face, but now he can’t see at all. Hunger prevents him from sneaking them into his sandwich. He also tries painting the lenses, and in great desperation, he wraps his head in toilet paper. But all his attempts end in failure. In fact his antics actually draw attention. But when he locates his teacher’s whistle with his newly sharp eyes, and his friends seem to actually like the glasses, he changes his mind and wears them proudly. Ismail presents Rex’s dilemma with sympathy, understanding, and a great deal of humor. There are no wasted words in the brief, emphatic sentences placed strategically among the illustrations, and the tale moves quickly to its comforting conclusion. Bright watercolors ably complement the action and provide many delightful details, especially Rex’s diverse classmates, all the same size whether elephant or mouse. Endpapers and illustrations make the British “specs” instantly understandable to an American audience.
Sweet, funny, and reassuring. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6196-3710-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school...
The familiar theme of the challenges facing a new kid in town is given an original treatment by photographer Border in this book of photos of three-dimensional objects in a simple modeled landscape.
Peanut Butter is represented by a slice of white bread spread with the popular condiment. The other characters in the story—a hamburger with a pair of hot dogs in tow, a bowl of alphabet soup, a meatball jumping a rope of spaghetti, a carton of French fries and a pink cupcake—are represented by skillfully crafted models of these foods, anthropomorphized using simple wire construction. Rejected by each character in turn in his search for playmates, Peanut Butter discovers in the end that Jelly is his true match (not Cupcake, as the title suggests), perhaps because she is the only one who looks like him, being a slice of white bread spread with jelly. The friendly foods end up happily playing soccer together. Some parents may have trouble with the unabashedly happy depiction of carbs and American junk food (no carrots or celery sticks in this landscape), and others may find themselves troubled by the implication that friendship across difference is impossible.
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16773-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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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