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WORDS BETWEEN US

Name: WORDS BETWEEN US
Author: Angela Pham Krans
ISBN: 9780063224544

by Angela Pham Krans ; illustrated by Dung Ho ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2023

A heartwarming tale of intergenerational bonding.

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A child of Vietnamese descent helps his grandmother get acclimated to their home in the United States.

Felix meets his grandma for the first time when she arrives from Vietnam to live with his family. The two quickly bond over pizza, music, and gardening. One day, Grandma gets lost at a city festival and, because she doesn’t speak English, can’t ask for help. Felix finds her and, later, decides to teach her English. He makes flashcards for different words, helping his grandma learn new words until “words became phrases. And phrases became sentences.” With a stronger command of English, Grandma begins to make new friends and navigates their world with greater ease. There is a beautiful sense of symmetry in Felix and his grandma’s relationship as they connect over their interests and lovingly support each other through challenges. Ho’s digital illustrations are simply stunning. Vivid colors and sunlight permeate each scene, creating a sense of warmth and joy that thrums through the book even during difficult moments. Eye-catching visual details, from the various people in the crowd scenes to the flashcards in the endpapers, add depth and personality to the world they live in. The tale wraps up with a recipe for Vietnamese pizza, just like the one that Grandma makes.

A heartwarming tale of intergenerational bonding. (Vietnamese-English glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023

ISBN: 9780063224544

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
FINDING PAPA
by Angela Pham Krans ; illustrated by Thi Bui

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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
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)