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TRUE TO MYSELF

Name: TRUE TO MYSELF
Author: Ziggy Marley
ISBN: 9780063287211

by Ziggy Marley ; illustrated by Ashley Evans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2026

An uplifting, community-minded, danceable effort.

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Reggae artist Marley returns with another picture book adapted from one of his songs.

“Life has come a long way since yesterday, / and it’s not the same old thing over again.” OK, those lyrics may be a little baroque for the first page of a children’s book, but hear Marley out! Those words (and the following) are attributed to a conscientious kid who’s waking up eager to embrace the day: “I’m growing up strong, becoming who I am. / Happy and bright, I’m shining my light.” (Those lines aren’t in Marley’s song and were presumably written specially for this book.) The kid finds a bracelet on the playground and later, at school, returns it to the classmate who dropped it; in turn, that child takes over the book’s perspective and does a good deed—by making a new student feel welcome. On it goes: kids modeling socially upstanding behavior for one another, the odd wrongdoer later remorseful and willing to mend fences. The hit that inspired the book has a repetitive chorus that Marley has wisely pared down to a simple refrain here—“I’ve got to be / TRUE TO MYSELF!”—which means that the jaunty text works whether readers know the song or not. Evans’ exuberantly colorful digital art presents the cast, a multiracial assortment of young cuties, in a tidy urban setting.

An uplifting, community-minded, danceable effort. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026

ISBN: 9780063287211

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
PAJAMMIN'
by Ziggy Marley ; illustrated by Letícia Moreno

- BOOK REVIEW
MUSIC IS IN EVERYTHING
by Ziggy Marley ; illustrated by Ag Jatkowska

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE JOHN CROW
by Ziggy Marley & Orly Marley ; illustrated by Gordon Rowe

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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

- 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

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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)