Lessons in both gumption and the sacred nature of urban green spaces.
Mae desperately misses her garden after moving to the city, with its tall, crowded buildings and narrow streets; her new urban environment offers no “winding paths and leafy hiding spots” or butterfly chases “in the wavy grass.”
Light-skinned with bobbed chestnut hair tucked behind her ears, Mae tries to cheer herself up, which will deeply impress young readers who couldn’t imagine being transplanted (and perhaps seem even more admirable to those who have!). She covers a cobblestone square with chalk drawings of caterpillars, leaves, dragonflies, dandelions, bees, and grass; she covers towering cardboard moving boxes with apple trees, lily of the valley, birds, daisies, and ladybugs. But the rain washes away her pictures, and her dad totes away the boxes. While the city has its own appeal, its elegant buildings stretching skyward and its charming storefronts cheery, Mae’s melancholy bleeds through, coloring everything. Wan watercolors offer some soft pinks, mellow reds, and mossy greens, but overcast slate blues and grays dominate. Verdant, dazzling endpapers at the book’s very beginning (dappled leaves covering the spread completely, dotted with little wildflowers and the faces of a few woodland creatures) make Mae’s changed circumstances painfully clear. When she stumbles upon Florette, a greenhouse plant shop crawling with vines, leaves, cactus needles, and blossoms, Mae finally sees she can bloom where she’s been planted.
Lessons in both gumption and the sacred nature of urban green spaces. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-87683-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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