A helpful title for kids growing up in the social media age.
A fame-obsessed peacock gains much-needed perspective.
A purple peacock at the zoo loves having his photo taken by visitors and showing off his beautiful plumage. A young girl named Sketch with unnaturally pink skin is the only one uninterested in taking his photo; instead, she regularly visits Peacock to draw pictures of him in her notebook and tell him stories. Hungry for even more fame, Peacock escapes the zoo. He parades down the street on the roof of a school bus, strutting, posing, and garnering more and more attention. He wanders into a library, where everyone except the stereotypically stern librarian marvels at him. But being famous, it turns out, is exhausting; luckily, worn-out Peacock runs into Sketch, who begs him to “go back home.” Back at the zoo, Peacock loses his fan base when his feathers start to molt, but loyal Sketch is there to comfort him as the seasons change. Peterkin’s straightforward yet moving cautionary tale is capped off by backmatter urging caregivers to use the “3 C’s” of social media—content, contact, and conduct—as a framework for discussing “the benefits and risks of social media” with children. Prabhat’s cartoon-style digital illustrations depict animal and human figures alike with oversized, round eyes and vibrant colors and use close-ups to capture key emotional moments. Background characters have a range of skin tones from deep brown to tan.
A helpful title for kids growing up in the social media age. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4338-3279-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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