A great rainy-day read-aloud complete with built-in craft ideas.
“Glitter, glitter everywhere” in a rhyming celebration of sparkles to share!
The young protagonist, who wears pigtails and a handmade crown, spies a package left on the doorstep by the letter carrier. A shimmering tag hints at sparkly contents. The child opens up the box and dashes glitter on the crown, spilling sprinkles onto the table and floor. Entranced, the child goes to their room, eager to brighten the walls, the mirror, and the bedspread. Soon, colorful rays of glitter spray across the page, as the celebration accelerates until our shiny star realizes the glitter has covered everything in a rainbow quilt—including the child and their cat! A realization about the value of creativity restores balance…for now; the final spread hints at a sequel with the arrival of a new package on the doorstep. Young artists will delight in the creative joy the protagonist displays but will appreciate that even sparkly glitter must be restrained sometimes. The drawn, cut-paper, and digitally colored illustrations add texture and depth to the story, transitioning from simple colors against black-and-white backgrounds to splashes of frenetic color and then back again. Despite a few meter missteps (“Are your walls asking for glitz? / Looking for more flashy bits? / Time for puttin’ on the ritz?”), the jaunty text makes for a lively read-aloud, complete with the repeatable, titular refrain, “Just add glitter!” The protagonist has tan skin and straight, black hair.
A great rainy-day read-aloud complete with built-in craft ideas. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0967-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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